All in the name of love
by pinkwood17
Summary: What happens if Dobby the elf wasn't there to save Hermione on that day at the Malfoy Manor? Would Draco have the courage to go against everything his family ever stood for and help the mudblood whom he's had a soft spot for since his early years at Hogwarts? And if he does, would he be willing to risk everything, all in the name of love?
1. Chapter 1: The Breaking Point

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to the amazing J.K Rowling. **

** Sorry if this chapter is really, really short. It'll get longer after a while, I promise!**

** Comments and reviews are GREATLY APPRECIATED, I'd love to know what you guys think of this story. :)**

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**Chapter One: The Breaking Point**

"AHHHHHHH!" Draco heard Hermione scream as his aunt performed the Cruciatus Curse on her again.

"Tell me…_where did you get that sword_?" Bellatrix demanded.

"W-we found it…please…no m-more." pleasded Hermione as she tried to stand up once more, her strength failing her as she fell back onto the ground.

Bellatrix pointed her wand at Hermione once more. But before she uttered the curse, Hermione turned to Draco and stared at him with pleading eyes.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Draco couldn't stand the pain he saw in Hermione's eyes as she turned to look at him. He couldn't stand seeing her lie there on the floor, blood oozing out of her arm where his aunt had carved the word 'Mudblood'. Mudblood. How he hated that term. He hated the lot of them, his family and their pureblood mania, their obsession with blood statuses and the Dark Lord. He turned his face towards Hermione once more, watching her as she finally broke down in tears, her eyes looking up to the ceiling as she cried out for someone to free her from torture.

"I can't let this go on…I can't let them torture her like this." Draco thought as he started to make a move towards Hermione, hesitated, then gave his head a little shake.

Unfortunately, his sudden movement did not go unnoticed by his aunt.

"Draco! This mudblood was your little friend back at Hogwarts, wasn't she?" Bellatrix asked him in a sickly sweet tone.

Draco didn't answer her, and kept his eyes on the floor instead. His father, Lucius, answered for him, "Draco would never make such an unworthy acquaintance. We Malfoys do not mix with Mudbloods."

"Good, I expect no less from my nephew. Now come here, darling." said Bellatrix as she motioned for Draco to join her.

Draco remained still.

"I said, _come here!_" Bellatrix demanded.

His father finally pushed him towards the center of the room, where Hermione and his aunt were. His legs felt as stiff as lead as he made his way to them.

"There's a good boy. Now…let's see you do the Cruciatus Curse on her."

"_What?!_" Draco asked incredulously.

"You heard me, my precious little nephew. _Torture that mudblood, prove yourself worthy of being a Malfoy._"

Malfoy looked at her in disbelief. How can he bring himself to torture his old schoolmate? Or anyone, for that matter. He would never wish for anyone to be tortured through the use of the Cruciatus Curse, not even his worst enemy. Yet if he didn't do it, he'd be called both a coward and a bloodtraitor, and bring dishonor to his family. He glanced back at his parents and gave them a questioning look. His mother said nothing, yet worry lines creased her forehead. His father simply nodded at him. Hermione looked down and closed her eyes, bracing herself.

"C-c-crucio." Draco said, his voice barely louder than a whisper. The curse didn't have an effect on Hermione at all. Bellatrix started laughing immediately, causing the other Death Eaters to laugh and jeer with her.

"Is that all you've got, boy?" his aunt taunted him. "You're nothing but a scared little boy, not even strong enough to hurt a Mudblood. You're not worthy of the name Malfoy!" Bellatrix spat in his face. The Death Eaters laughed once more.

That had been the breaking point for him. Without planning anything, without thinking of the consequence of his actions, he made one move towards Hermione and immediately Disapparated with her.


	2. Chapter 2: Rage and Anger

**Decided to upload another chapter today since the first one was too short. Well, this chapter's pretty short as well, but I PROMISE that the next ones will be longer. **

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**Chapter Two: Rage and Anger**

"AHHHHHHH!" Harry heard Hermione scream again, her voice echoing through the dungeons. Ron pounded his fists against the door one more time.

"I'm…gonna…kill them." Ron muttered. He seemed like a madman, ready to pounce on Bellatrix and whoever else was helping torture Hermione.

"Ron please, there's nothing you can do for Hermione right now. Save your strength for later." He told Ron.

"Yeah? Watch me! I'll break down this door, and…and…"

"And what, mate? Harry's right, you've got to save your strength. I've been locked in this dungeon for months, you can't force your way out of this through strength alone." said Dean.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Ron collapsed on the floor, sobbing. "I can't hear her being tortured like this, Harry. I can't. I'd rather they torture me instead of her…I- I love her."

Luna put a hand on his shoulder and said, "We know you do, Ronald. But don't worry, Hermione will make it."

"And how exactly do you know that, Luna?" Ron spat bitterly. "You know how much they hate Mudbloods."

"I just know. She's a strong girl, Hermione."

"ARGGGGGH!" Came the shouts from upstairs once more. Only this time, it sounded different.

"Did you hear that? That sounded like…" Harry sat up, listening intently at the commotion that seemed to be happening upstairs.

"Like Bellatrix." Luna said as she gave a little smile.

* * *

"I'M GONNA KILL THEM, THAT FILTHY LITTLE MUDBLOOD AND THAT GOOD FOR NOTHING BLOODTRAITOR SON OF YOURS!" Screamed Bellatrix as she grabbed anything within reach and threw it onto the floor.

Lucius and Narcissa stood there, looking absolutely stupefied at what their son had just done.

"P-please, Bellatrix. There is no way Draco was in his right mind, that clever little Mudblood must have cast a spell on him." Lucius pleaded, finally breaking out of his trance, though his voice betrayed how little he believed in what he himself had said.

Bellatrix scoffed at him. "That's impossible, even that mudblood couldn't have done something like that, clever though as she is. Besides, we both know how weak-willed that Draco is. Believe me, Lucius, when I find them, and I will find them, I'll kill them. Both the mudblood and my nephew."

Narcissa bowed her head as she wept silently. "Oh Draco, what have you done?" she whispered.


	3. Chapter 3: Deepwater Inn

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**Chapter Three: Deepwater Inn**

Draco brought Hermione to the only place he could think of in such a short notice- Deepwater Inn.

Still carrying her in his arms, Draco made his way to the counter, where a man in his forties sat.

"Draco? Is that you? I haven't seen-" the innkeeper started to say, but Draco interrupted him. "We're going to need two rooms and a hot meal immediately." Draco told the innkeeper.

"Oh. Yes. Yes, of course." said the man as he saw the state Hermione was in, and immediately got up to obey Draco's orders.

The man led them up two flights of stairs and showed them to a room with a kitchen, a bathroom, and a single king-sized bed.

"And the other room?" Draco inquired.

"I'm afraid this is the only room we have left, Draco. Every other room is currently occupied."

"I suppose this'll have to do for now." Draco sighed. "Don't forget to hurry with the hot meal. And don't mention this to anyone, please."

As the innkeeper left, Draco gently put Hermione down on the bed. She appeared to have fainted.

"Granger? Granger!" Draco called out frantically.

But instead of replying, she merely gave a loud snore. Draco relaxed and tucked her in, smiling to himself. Then he gave another sigh. "What did I just do?" he said to himself.

He thought about his parents, how they would react to his betrayal. His father would be livid, no doubt, but what about his mother? Would she be angry at him for turning his back on them, or would she secretly be proud of him for doing what she never had the strength to do?

Yet as he stared at Hermione, he knew that he had made the right decision. She looked so pitiful, her face bore scratches and bruises, while her clothes were torn in places. Yet she still looked so beautiful and serene at the same time. Draco couldn't imagine her as the girl who was screaming and howling in pain from the torture she had received earlier.

"Knock knock!" A cheery young voice from someone outside the room interrupted his thoughts.

"Come in." he ordered.

A young girl who looked about nine years old came in, holding a tray of food. "Hi there, my name's Eloise. Daddy told me to bring this up to you." the young girl said.

"Put it on the bedside table." Draco said. "And t-thank you, Eloise." He said, surprising himself. He had never thanked the help before. He seemed to be changing a great deal in less than an hour.

"You're welcome." Said the cheery Eloise as she put the tray down and left the room without another word.

"Hermione? Wake up, you've got to eat something." Draco said as he gently shook Hermione awake.

"Mmmm." Hermione grumbled, pushing his hand away as she turned away from him.

"Hermione you've got to eat, you've got to get your strength back." Draco said as she shook her more insistently.

Hermione awoke when she recognized the voice that was trying to get her to wake up. "M-malfoy? What are you doing here? W-where am I?" She asked as she tried to sit up, but her throbbing head made her wince. She felt incredibly dazed and exhausted.

"Don't worry, you're safe. I'm not going to harm you. And don't sit up too fast, you'll hurt yourself."

Hermione stared blankly at the person standing next to her bed. She must be dreaming, this can't possibly be the arrogant Draco Malfoy she was used to. This person was much too… kind and gentle.

"You still haven't answered my question, where have you brought me?" asked Hermione warily.

"We're at Deepwater Inn, a place I used to…go to." Draco answered her. "Now eat your food before you faint again." He added grumpily as he turned to sit back on the couch.

Well now that's the Draco Malfoy she was used to. Dark and moody. Yet Hermione wasn't sure what had caused the sudden change in his mood. But before she could ponder on it more, her stomach grumbled, reminding her that she needed to eat.

She fumbled with her spoon and fork when she noticed the mark on her arm. Mudblood, it read. Her face darkened as she remembered what she had went through at the Malfoy Manor and the few horrible hours she spent there as Bellarix Lestrange nearly drove her insane with her torturing. She thought that she would die there, that she would never live to see the world outside that miserable place. Suddenly she felt queasy, and put her spoon and fork down, unable to eat any more.

"Eat your dessert, it'll help." Draco suddenly said.

Hermione jumped, completely forgetting that he was there. "What?" she asked him.

"Eat the chocolate cake, it'll help. Trust me." he answered simply.

Hermione did, and as soon as she ate the cake, she felt her strength slowly coming back to her. By the time she finished it she felt much better than she did when she woke up.

"How did you know about that?" she asked Draco.

"Know about what, Granger?"

"About the chocolate cake."

"I…uhm…read about it." Draco said, looking rather uneasy.

What an excuse, thought Hermione. She'd barely even seen Malfoy enter the library at Hogwarts. Read about it, indeed. Still, he did save her life, what did it matter if Draco Malfoy had a few secrets he was unwilling to share to her?

"Thank you, Draco. For saving my life." she told him sincerely.


	4. Chapter 4: Florean

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**Chapter Four: Florean**

"Thank you, Draco. For saving my life." Her words echoed in his head for the hundredth time. Draco had been so caught off guard by Hermione's thanks that he merely nodded his head in reply.

She was asleep now, he noticed. After eating, she lay in bed for what seemed like hours, tossing and turning. She even gave a yelp of pain when she accidentally rolled on the wound his aunt had given her. Draco frowned, he really should do something about that wound, it looked pretty deep and he didn't want it to end up getting infected.

Unable to get any sleep on the lumpy old couch, Draco went down to the lobby of the inn, which was fortunately empty aside from the innkeeper.

"Draco! Anything I can help you with?" the innkeeper asked.

"Yes, I need a first aid kit please."

"Just a moment, I'll go and find it for you."

Draco gave a nod and sat at one of the couches in the lobby. Nothing much had changed since he'd last been here. How long ago was that…two, three years ago? Yet it seemed like just yesterday when he himself would come in here, all bloodied up and traumatized from his father's tortures. Lucius was a strong believer in the old Malfoy practices, and therefore Draco was regularly punished through the use of the Cruciatus Curse.

He remembered the last time his father tortured him, it had been due to his grades in the OWLs. Lucius Malfoy had not been pleased at all to hear that Draco had failed to achieve all Os for the Ordinary Wizarding Level.

_"An 'A' in History of Magic? How could you get such a low score, Draco?" Lucius spat._

_Draco bowed his head, dreading what was surely going to happen next._

_"An 'A', Draco! Do you know what that stands for?"_

_"Acceptable." he mumbled._

_"Crucio!"_

_Though his father had tortured him like this about a dozen times before, Draco never really got used to the pain that the Cruciatus Curse brought. He howled in agony, feeling as if millions of knives were piercing his body._

_"We Malfoys are above getting Acceptables, Draco! Do you not realize the shame you've brought to the family name? Crucio!"_

_Draco shouted in pain once more, hoping and praying that his father would stop. "I-I'm sorry, Father. I'll try harder next time, I p-promise."_

_"What's more is that you've let that Granger girl beat you again. Severus tells me she got all twelve 'Outstandings' in her OWLs. What do you have to say for yourself?"_

_"That Granger girl thinks she's so clever." said Draco bitterly as his father compared him to Hermione Granger again._

_"Yet she beat you! A mudblood beat you, Draco! Have you no shame? What does that make you?" Lucius spat as he used the curse on his son once more._

After a couple of house, his father had finally thought that Draco had been punished enough, and left him in his office, weak from the torture he gave him. Draco pulled himself up slowly and immediately left for Deepwater Inn, his sanctuary, where he would spend a few days before returning to Malfoy Manor. His father never asked him where he went when he disappeared, and Draco doubted that Lucius would even notice his disappearance if it hadn't been for his mother. Narcissa would be worried to death, sending Draco frantic owls, asking where he was. Draco never answered them, though, bitter that she had let her husband torture him once more, and angry at how weak-willed his mother was.

"Draco? I've got the first aid kit for you." said Florean, the innkeeper, as he interrupted Draco's thoughts.

"Thanks, Florean. I saw Eloise earlier, I can't believe how much she's grown!"

"Yes, why it seems like just yesterday you were helping me change her nappies." Florean chuckled.

"She doesn't remember me, though." Draco added sadly.

"Ah, well maybe it's because you're not bloodied up and half-dead this time. Though I much prefer you like this, of course."

"Yes, of course." Draco agreed.

"Now if you excuse me, I need to take this upstairs. Thanks for everything, Florean."

"No problem at all."

Florean Fitzgerald was like a father to Draco, he was the one who had tended to him whenever Lucius tortured him. Draco remembered how he would appear in Deepwater Inn without as much as a ten minute notice, yet Florean would welcome him with open arms and immediately take care of him without a question. Florean never asked Draco about his life at home, and Draco never told him. The less Florean knew, the safer him and his daughter would be. Draco cared for the muggle family, and he would never wish to put them in harm's way by telling them all about his world.

In fact, Draco hated how he was putting Florean and his daughter in danger just by his and Hermione's presence at Deepwater Inn. He had no doubt that Bellatrix would be looking for them after their escape, and although Draco was certain that no one in his family knew that it was to Deepwater Inn he had been escaping to all these years, he knew that it was only a matter of time before they would find Hermione and him.

Draco reached the room, and found Hermione still asleep, her dreams undisturbed. He opened the first aid kit and started to treat her wound, dabbing some hydrogen peroxide on it and wrapping it with gauze. Afterwards, he looked at his handiwork. It looked flimsy, but it was the best he could do without waking her up. He would've preferred to use Dittany on the wound, of course, but he had no access to it. And he wouldn't dare risk his life a second time for Hermione Granger. I mean really, once was enough, wasn't it?


	5. Chapter 5: The Fever

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**Chapter Five: The Fever**

Hermione woke up before dawn the next day, feeling terrible. Her head was throbbing like mad, and she felt undeniably weaker than she was after eating her meal the previous night.

She shuffled under the covers a bit, and felt something strange on her arm. She looked down to see that it was bandaged with some gauze and tape. Though it was done poorly, she couldn't help but feel touched by the gesture. Touched, and unbelievably confused. There was absolutely no way that it was Draco who had done this for her. Draco Malfoy, the boy who had tormented her for years at Hogwarts, the only boy who had dared call her a Mudblood right in her face...now saving her life and putting bandages over her wounds?

She squinted around the dark room and found Malfoy sleeping on the couch, his head positioned at an awkward angle as he had tried to make himself fit in the tiny, lumpy couch. She felt an odd twinge of guilt for him, followed with annoyance. He was obviously uncomfortable sleeping on that lumpy old couch, so why did he do so? He could have had slept in a different room, it wasn't as if she needed a nanny to watch over her, Hermione thought crossly. She would've woke him up to tell him that he didn't need to watch over her, but she didn't want to disturb his already uncomfortable sleep, and her throbbing head was beginning to make her feel really nauseous, so she went back to sleep instead.

She woke up a couple of hours later, her headache a hundred times worse.

"Ughhhh" she groaned loudly.

"Keep your voice down, Granger, some of us are still trying to sleep here." Draco grumbled, clearly very grumpy due to his sleeping situation.

"I feel like I'm going to throw up." moaned Hermione.

That caught Draco's attention. He sat up, concerned. "Are you feeling okay, Granger?" he asked her.

"What part of 'I feel like I'm going to throw up' sounds okay to you?" snapped Hermione, though her voice sounded weak.

Draco immediately walked to her bed, his concern growing. He placed a hand on her forehead. "Merlin's pants, you're burning up!" he exclaimed.

"Merlin's pants?" Hermione said as she burst into laughter.

"This is serious Hermione, your forehead feels like it's on fire. Wait here, I'll go get some help."

Draco rushed out of the room without another word.

"Florean! You've got to help me, quick!" He told the innkeeper as he hurried to the lobby.

"What's wrong, Draco?" Florean said, seeing the worry in the Draco's eyes.

"My friend, the one I brought here...she's got a fever. It's bad, Flor, really bad. Do you have any medications that could possibly help her?" he pleaded.

"I have to go see the condition she's in first, before deciding which medicine would be best for her. Come, let's go."

They went up the stairs immediately, and were a few steps away from the room when they heard a huge thud coming from the inside.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled, as he ran towards the room, with Florean right behind him.

They opened the door to see Hermione on the floor, having some sort of epileptic fit.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled again, rushing towards her side as he tried to control her convulsing body.

"Draco, don't! You'll hurt her more. Here, let me do it." Florean said.

Draco reluctantly let Florean take over, his face pale with worry. Florean immediately tried to support Hermione's head so that she wouldn't hurt herself.

"Is that all you're going to do?"

"I'm afraid so, Draco. There's nothing we can do but wait til' it stops."

After a while, Hermione's convulsions stopped, and she slumped to the floor, unconscious. Florean immediately checked her body for any broken bones, and when he found none, he motioned to Draco to help him carry Hermione back to bed.

"W-what happened?" asked Draco as he stared at Florean for answers.

"She had a fit, probably due to her extremely high fever. What happened to her, Draco? Why does she look like she was bloody tortured?" Florean asked gravely.

Draco was reluctant to answer. He didn't want to reveal anything that might put Florean in danger, but he figured that he owed him some sort of explanation.

"Well, she was. Not by the one who used to torture me, but she's just as cruel and merciless. And she's crazy, really crazy. The people we're with, they're the worst sort. They enjoy torturing people, regardless of their age or their gender."

"Oh, dear…poor girl. Poor, poor girl. But I don't think that explains the fever."

"I know, that's exactly what I was thinking. What could have caused it, then?"

"Well, there's one possibility I can think of, if the people you're associated with are indeed as cruel as you say..."

"And what is that?"

"Was she poisoned?"

"Poisoned?! No…no I don't think-" Draco gave a huge gasp instead of completing his sentence.

"No...no it can't be. They wouldn't do that to her..." He whispered as he moved towards Hermione and started to remove the bandages on her arm.

Hermione's whole arm was swollen, and her veins were streaked black with poison.


	6. Chapter 6: Helplessness and Defiance

**Hey guys! Sorry if this chapter took a while to be published, been quite busy! Hope you like it, though. :) **

**And thank you to all who followed, favorited and reviewed! I really appreciate it. Keep on reviewing, please!**

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**Chapter 6: Helplessness and Defiance **

"I can't believe it...how could she do this to Hermione? That's low, even for her." Draco seethed, referring to his aunt, Bellatrix.

"What exactly did _she_ do to her, Draco?"

"See this wound on her arm? It was made using a hunting knife. And not just any ordinary hunting knife...its blade was dipped in poison, a poison so deadly it can kill a person within minutes. My father always used to threaten me with it, saying that he'd put some of the poison in my meal if I didn't behave properly. He nearly carried out his threat too, once." Draco cringed at the memory.

"So I'm guessing it didn't kill her since she didn't ingest the poison orally?"

"Yes, but this method is much more cruel and savage…if you take the poison orally, it'd be a quick death. You wouldn't even have time to realize what was happening to you. But the poison entered through her bloodstream, which is a hundred times worse…it'll mean a slow death for her. A slow and painful death."

"Good lord..." whispered Florean. "Is there...is there any cure for it?"

"That's the thing…I don't know." sighed Draco.

* * *

"Bella, it's been two days since the... incident. Aren't you going to send someone to look for the Granger girl?" Narcissa asked her sister.

"Don't play dumb with me, Cissy. I know you're only asking because you just can't wait to be reunited with your baby boy Draco." Bellatrix giggled. She'd been in such a good mood lately, considering that one of her prisoners had escaped right under her nose.

"I'm not going to deny that fact, Bella. He's my only son...I'm worried about him."

"Well it's his fault he got into this mess, sister." sneered Bellatrix, her mood changing.

"Don't blame him, Bella. He's just a boy. He was simply...confused"

"Confused?" Bellatrix scoffed. "I don't think so…I think our Draco _likes_ the little Mudblood."

"That's impossible, Bella. Draco would never like a mudblood." Narcissa's eyes widened.

"Believe what you want, sister. I'm just telling you what I think. Oh, and don't forget…I still have to kill him for his insolence." said Bellatrix in a sickly sweet voice.

"You wouldn't actually- Bella, he's your _only_ nephew!" Narcissa gasped in horror.

"Nephew or not, he disobeyed me. He's a traitor to this family _and_ to the Dark Lord. He must be killed."

"No…Bella, you mustn't! He's my only son. Please don't do this...I'll do anything."

"Hmm…well we'll see, sister. He still might be useful to the Dark Lord's plans. But if he isn't, I'll just dispose of him myself."

"J-just don't put him in danger, please." said a worried Narcissa.

"Stop worrying, Narcissa. You should be proud that Draco has the chance to be of service to the Dark Lord! If I had sons I'd gladly give them all to do the Dark Lord to do his bidding. There is no greater honor."

Narcissa sighed. "I just want him back, Bella. I just want my son back."

"Oooh, don't you worry my dear sister. Our beloved Draco will show up real soon, you can be sure of that." Bellatrix said, laughing maniacally to herself as she left the room, leaving an utterly confused Narcissa behind.

* * *

"Lucius, she's up to something, I know it." Narcissa told her husband after her chat with Bellatrix.

"Who is, my dear?"

"Bella! She's been in such a good mood lately...and she's acting like she knows something about Draco that we don't. I'm worried, Lucius."

"Well if your son hadn't acted so rashly, we wouldn't be in this position now, would we?" answered Lucius. He'd been stressed ever since the prisoners were taken to his house and placed in the dungeon. No one could confirm if it was indeed _the_ Harry Potter whom they had captured, and therefore they didn't know whether to summon the Dark Lord or not.

"He's your son too! Surely you care for him?"

"I don't have the luxury to care for a bloodtraitor, Narcissa. Draco's been nothing but a hindrance and a disgrace to the family name...and I wouldn't mind a single bit if Bella would indeed have her way with him." sneered Lucius.

"How dare you! You're nothing but a heartless bastard!" shouted Narcissa as she slapped her husband hard across his face. Lucius fell to the ground, completely caught off guard with his wife's sudden outburst.

"I will do anything, _anything_ to have our son back, Lucius. I'd do anything for him...even if you don't help me." Narcissa said firmly, and left the room.

* * *

"She's getting worse, Draco." whispered Florean as he felt Hermione's forehead. She'd been unconscious ever since her fit that morning.

"Can't...can't you do anything?" said a desperate Draco.

"No, all of the medications that I have are useless unless we have the antidote to the poison. Do you have any idea what the ingredients to the poison might be?" Florean asked.

"No. Father would never tell me, even though I asked him a million times about it. He said that I needed to prove myself worthy before he'd tell me."

"Well can't you ask someone about it? A sibling? Your mother?"

Narcissa. Yes, Narcissa might know, Draco thought. But how would he make contact with her? And how can he be sure that she'd be willing to help him?

"My mother might know...but it'll be difficult to get a hold of her. Dangerous, in fact. I-I don't think I can do it, Florean." Draco said, his voice quivering with fear.

"Well unless you magically come up with the antidote in your dreams, Draco, it is likely your friend here will die within a couple of days." Florean said, then left the room.

"Oh what am I gonna do?" Draco sighed as he sat on the couch, his head in his hands. "They'll kill me if I show my face there again. No, wait, they'll torture me first then kill me. I can't risk my life for Hermione Granger again." he shook his head adamantly.

Then, as if on cue, Hermione gave a little moan in her unconscious state. No sound had ever sounded so pitiful, yet so beautiful at the same time to Draco. And right then, Draco knew what he had to do.


	7. Chapter 7: Midnight at the Forest

**Sorry this update took so long, I had a really busy week last week! :(**

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**Chapter Seven: Midnight at The Forest**

"I'm leaving for a while, Florean. Would you mind watching over my friend while I'm gone? I won't be long, I promise." Draco told Florean.

"Of course I will. I'm assuming you're off to look for the antidote?"

"Yes. It'll be dangerous, but damn it I have to. If she dies...I-I just don't think I can bear knowing that I had a chance of saving her, yet I was too much of a bloody coward to try." Draco said.

"That's very noble of you, Draco. I never thought I'd see the day you'd be risking your own life to save another's."

"Well this'll be the second time, actually. It's the second time I'm risking my life to save hers. Damn girl's certainly a handful." Draco said and gave a quick smile. It was a tiny one, but Florean noticed it.

"Ah well, aren't all girls?" He laughed. "But on a more serious note, do be careful Draco. I'd really rather not have you come back in the same condition she's in."

"I will. And thanks, Florean...for everything. You've been nothing but good to us."

"Don't mention it, Draco. You're like a son to me, surely you know that by now? And any friend of my son's is welcome here."

Draco nodded in reply, feeling overwhelmed with Florean's declaration. He'd never had a father figure so willing to accept him as his own son before. Lucius had always acknowledged him as a disappointment and a shame to the family, whereas Florean looked...well he looked proud of him.

Draco left the inn, but not before placing numerous protective enchantments around it. He wasn't planning on being gone for long, hopefully he'd only be out for an hour at the most, but he wanted to make sure that Florean and his daughter would be safe from the Death Eaters. He knew that they were planning more Muggle attacks this month, and he wasn't about to let them harm his adopted family. Say what you wanted about him, call him a bloodtraitor or a coward, but Draco never, _never_, let those he cared about come into harm's way.

He apparated a mile outside Malfoy Manor, feeling incredibly uneasy. He didn't dare apparate right into the grounds for fear that there would be alarms set up. The Death Eaters were paranoid in that sense, so Draco merely waited in the forest just outside the grounds. He knew that Narcissa had a habit of taking a midnight stroll once in a while, and Draco was hoping he'd be able to catch her during one of her strolls.

Yes, there she was. Narcissa was wearing a midnight blue cloak, with the hood draped over her head, but the walking figure was unmistakable. Draco would recognize his mother anywhere, no matter what she was wearing.

He started to walk towards her, but ended up tripping on a tree root. Damn, he thought. He was never that clumsy.

"Who's there?" demanded Narcissa. "I can hear you out there, you know. I have a wand and I'm not afraid to use it."

Draco stood up and whispered. "Mother, it's me. Draco."

"D-draco?" his mother's voice trembled. "Is that really you? Show yourself." she said warily.

Draco moved from his hiding spot, feeling strangely vulnerable.

"For the love of Salazar, it's really you! Oh, my son!" Narcissa cried out as she rushed forward to hug her only son.

"Oomph. Mother, that hurts!" Draco wheezed as his mother pulled him into a rib-crashing hug.

"I can't help it, I've been worried to death about you! Where have you been? Are you alright? Are you hurt?" his mother bombarded him with questions.

"I'm fine, mother, really. I'm in good hands, don't worry about me." an exasperated Draco answered.

"But where are you staying? Wait, no, don't tell me. I'd rather not know in case they force the answer out of me. But you're safe where you are?"

"I am, as long as no one knows where I've gone."

"But where's the mudblood? You still have her, yes?"

"That's the thing. Herm-uhm, Granger's really sick, mum. The dagger Aunt Bella used on her...I think it's impregnated with the old Malfoy poison. She's dying, Mother."

"Oh dear. I didn't think Bella knew about the poison. She's not a Malfoy, after all. I suppose...I suppose Lucius could've told her about it."

Draco's eyes flashed with anger at the mention of his father. "Do you know if there's a cure for it?"

"If there is, I wouldn't know. Lucius never told me about it. Why do you want to help the Granger girl, anyways? It's too much trouble for you."

Draco was dumbfounded with his mother's question. Why _did_ he want to help Hermione? They weren't exactly friends at Hogwarts. In fact, most students and teachers alike knew them to be enemies.

"I-I don't really know, Mother. It just didn't feel right, I suppose, watching someone being tortured right in front of me. I know how terrible the Cruciatus Curse feels, and I...I just couldn't watch someone go through what I've gone through." Draco's voice wavered as painful memories flashed before him.

"Draco...I'm so sorry, my son. I should have done something to stop your father from harming you. It killed me, you know, seeing you go through that. Tore me apart. But I was too much of a coward to stop your father. I was too weak-willed...I should have protected you. Hell, I should have left your father and took you with me. I-I'm so sorry...do you think you could ever forgive me?" Narcissa whispered as tears fell from her beautiful, but haunted face.

Draco was shocked, he'd never seen his mother cry in front of him. She looked so broken, he couldn't bear to look at her. Yes, there were times when he resented his mother for never having the courage to step up to Lucius and stop him from torturing her son, and there were even times when Draco thought that Narcissa condoned her husband's actions, but he could never hate her. Especially not after seeing her break down in front of him and asking for his forgiveness. He approached his mother and gave her a hug.

"I forgive you, Mother. I really do." he assured her.

After hugging his mother for a while, Draco let go of Narcissa. He cleared his throat and said "So you understand why I wanted to save Granger? You understand why I have to save her again now?"

"Yes, I suppose I do. I don't think I can understand it fully though, you wanting to save a mudblood. But...if this is what you want to do, I'll be behind you one hundred percent." said Narcissa as she gave a small smile.

"I have to find out what the antidote is, though. Without that, Hermione will die."

"Leave it to me, my son. I'll find it out for you."

"You must be careful, though...what if father catches you? Or Aunt Bella, for that matter?"

"Don't worry about me, Draco. I can take care of myself. It's you I'm worried about. The Death Eaters patrol this area at night, and if they catch you here...Merlin knows what they'd do. I can't have you foolishly risking your life again like this, do you understand me?"

"Yes mother. I'll not do it again, I promise." Draco answered meekly.

"Meet me here in this exact spot in two days, at midnight. Make sure to wear something inconspicuous. I'll let you know about the antidote by then."

"Here, two days, midnight. Got it. Thank you, mother." Draco said sincerely.

"You must go now, a patrol's due any minute. Hurry!"

Draco went to Narcissa and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. "Take care, mother." he said, and Disapparated without further notice.

* * *

**So I know this was a bit of a filler chapter, but I thought it'd be interesting to see how Narcissa reacts to her son's decisions to save Hermione. :) **

**Don't forget to leave a review, please! Thank you. :) **


	8. Chapter 8: Midnight Patrol

**Thanks for all the new follows, favorites and reviews! Really appreciate every single one of them. :)**

**Hope you guys like this next chapter, I really enjoyed writing it. Don't forget to leave a review!**

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**Chapter Eight: Midnight Patrol**

"Damn paranoid fools..." Fenrir Greyback muttered as he patrolled the grounds beyond the Malfoy Manor. He was feeling very irritated that night, due to the lack of development with the whole Potter situation. _He_ was the one who caught the bloody boy, he wanted his reward _now_! But no, Bellatrix insisted on keeping the boy's capture a secret for the time being while she fixed some "important matters". Pompous woman. And now he was stuck with midnight patrols! He groaned at the thought. It wasn't as if anybody would be wandering around the woods at this time of night. He couldn't believe he was wasting his time patrolling when he could have been out searching for new prey to attack during full moon.

"Meet me here in this exact spot in two days, at midnight. Make sure to wear something inconspicuous. I'll let you know about the antidote by then."

Greyback stopped in his tracks. Somebody was out in the woods! He hid in the bushes, hoping to catch a glimpse of whoever the fool was, and was completely dumbfounded when he found out. Merlin's beard, it was Narcissa Malfoy! What the devil was she doing a mile away from the manor at this time of night? He squinted and tried to find out whom the Malfoy bitch was talking to, but it was useless as whoever it was was completely obscured by the tree behind him.

"Here, two days, midnight. Got it. Thank you, mother."

Greyback was completely dumbfounded once more. His sharp werewolf ears must be deceiving him. "It can't be…Draco Malfoy?" he whispered. That was impossible, the bloodtraitor Malfoy brat disappeared along with the mudblood two days ago! What in the world was he doing arranging secret meetings with his mother at midnight? But before he could mull it over, Narcissa started walking towards him, heading back to the Malfoy Manor. Fenrir quickly hid in the bushes once more, praying to Salazar that the older Malfoy wouldn't see him.

When at last the two Malfoys were gone, Greyback came out of his hiding spot. "Two days, at midnight" he whispered. Narcissa Malfoy was a bloodtraitor as well! Greyback wondered how her sister would react to this juicy piece of information. He couldn't wait to tell her, this night was turning out to be a pretty interesting one indeed. Greyback grinned to himself, exposing his sharp wolfish teeth.

He made sure not to be seen by Narcissa on his way back to the Malfoy Manor. He didn't want to his plans to be ruined by the little witch. He was a werewolf, yes, but a powerful witch yielding a wand trumps that any day.

* * *

Narcissa made her way back to the Malfoy Manor, pulling the hood of her cloak lower to hide her face. She felt agitated, as if someone was watching her. She stopped about a dozen times, checking to see if anybody was following her, but she saw no one. Her mind must be playing tricks on her. But still, that feeling of being watched lingered over her…

"Why Narcissa, you're as paranoid as they are." Narcissa muttered to herself, referring to the other Death Eaters.

Finally, she reached Malfoy Manor. She stared at the mansion, beautiful and majestic on the outside, yet cold and unforgiving on the inside. She sighed, it had been her dream as a child to marry a Malfoy and become mistress of the huge manor. The idea of wealth and power seemed so enticing to her, for being Malfoy was basically equivalent to being royalty in the Wizarding World. But where had that gotten her? She was stuck in a huge but empty house, with a distant husband and a number of vile Death Eaters who had seen it fit to come and go as they pleased. And now her only son had run away, leaving her alone in the hollow palace.

Draco. Narcissa smiled when she thought of her son. Even though he was out Merlin knows where, rescuing a Mudblood, Narcissa was secretly proud of him. More proud than she'd like to admit. She was glad that he had found the courage to leave. Narcissa always wanted to do so, but she simply never found the courage. She would have loved to escape just as Draco had, but her freedom was out of question, so Narcissa would simply have to live vicariously through her son. She would stand by him no matter what, and do anything to help him. Even if it meant defying her own husband and sister in the process.

Her smile vanished when she thought about her mission: The antidote, for the Malfoy poison. Narcissa had no idea where to begin her search for it. She would have to be extremely cautious, for if either Lucius or Bellatrix figured out what she was up to, it would surely not end well for her, and for Draco and the mudblood as well. The stakes were too high, and Narcissa couldn't bear to think of the repercussions.

* * *

Greyback hid behind a tree as he watched Narcissa. She was staring at the huge manor in front of her, and seemed completely lost in her thoughts. Greyback shifted impatiently, he was cold and tired from a day of leading a group of Snatchers and scouring the countryside for fugitive Muggleborns, bloodtraitors and truants who had escaped persecution. Not to mention he was in charge of the Midnight patrol as well. Greyback snarled, he wanted Narcissa to get a move on so that he could relay the interesting conversation he'd heard between Narcissa and Draco Malfoy in the forest.

After what seemed like eternity, Narcissa finally broke out of her trance. She gave the secret salute only the Death Eaters were privy to, and passed through the wrought-iron gates of the manor as if they were made out of smoke. Greyback's face contorted with irritation. Although he was an important ally of the Dark Lord, he was not included among the ranks of the Death Eaters, and therefore the secret salute had not been shared with him. He had to enter the gates as a normal visitor would. He approached the iron gates, which had contorted into a great big ugly face and demanded to know the purpose of his visit.

"Fenrir Greyback, back from Midnight Patrol. Here to report an important finding to Bellatrix Lestrange." he said exasperatedly.

"Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf? Fenrir Greyback, the snatcher? Fenrir Greyback-"

"Yes, yes it's me! Do we have to go through this every single time I enter the Manor? Let. me. in." Fenrir shouted in annoyance.

The gates finally relented and allowed him to enter. Fenrir slammed it as hard as he could to release some of his anger on the bothersome gate. He ignored the albino peacocks, which he normally would have chased, and stumbled through the gravel driveway gracelessly. After a while, he reached the door to the manor, and Fenrir knocked seven times before it was answered.

"Who's there?" a rat-like voice asked.

"Pettigrew, it's me. Let me in, I have something to report."

"Greyback? I wasn't expecting you til' about an hour at least. Don't tell me you've skipped out on your patrolling duties?"

"Shove off, you little rat. I have something important to report to Madam Lestrange." answered an irritated Greyback as he pushed Pettigrew away and entered the mansion.

Pettigrew stumbled to the floor, and scrambled away, frightened by the savage werewolf.

"Coward." muttered Greyback, and started for the drawing room, where Bellatrix Lestrange often was. The woman never seemed to sleep. But then again, evil never does, thought Greyback.

He hesitated before entering the drawing room. He had no idea what mood Bellatrix was in, and he was afraid he'd be disturbing her. Greyback may be a savage werewolf, but there's nothing more dangerous than Bellatrix Lestrange in one of her moods.

"I know you're out there, Fenrir Greyback. You're about as subtle as an elephant." Bellatrix called out.

Fenrir had no choice but to go in. "M-madam Lestrange?" he said.

"Aren't you supposed to be on patrol, werewolf?" Bellatrix sneered.

"Well, that's the thing, Madam L-Lestrange. I overheard something rather important while I was on patrol, and I thought I'd better come here quickly and tell you all about it." Greyback silently cursed himself, Bellatrix didn't seem to be in a good mood at all.

"And what was it that you overheard, Greyback?"

"Well…I was patrolling, you see. A-and I heard voices in the forest. And I thought to myself 'Why in the world would someone be in the woods this time of night?', so I went to check who it was. I hid in the bushes, you see, and-"

"Get to the point, werewolf. I have no patience for blundering old half-breeds tonight." snarled Bellatrix.

"Well, it was Narcissa. A-and…your nephew, Draco. It was them whom I overheard talking in the forest."

"Impossible. You're a complete waste of time, Greyback, do you know that?" Bellatrix said as she turned to leave.

"No, no it's true! I saw Narcissa with my own two eyes! And I heard that little bloodtraitor nephew of yours too!" Fenrir almost shouted in desperation. He wanted Bellatrix to believe him so badly, for maybe then the Death Eaters would finally see what an asset he was and possibly welcome him into their circle.

"And what exactly were they talking about, Greyback? Joining the Order of the Phoenix? How to overthrow the Dark Lord?" Bellatrix taunted him.

Fenrir racked his mind quickly. What was it they had been discussing again?

"You see, you don't even know. Time's up, werewolf. Now leave me be."

"Antidote! They were talking about some antidote!" Greyback exclaimed.

Bellatrix slowly turned back to face him, her face white with shock. "What did you say, Greyback?" she whispered.

"You heard me. Narcissa and Draco Malfoy were in the forest at midnight, talking about some damn antidote. Hate to break it to you, but your dear sister and nephew are bloodtraitors." Greyback said smugly, glad to have shocked Bellatrix at last.

"What else did they say? Tell me everything!" Bellatrix demanded, her face a mere inch away from his. Fenrir gulped, no one scared him more than Bellatrix Lestrange. Not even the Dark Lord himself. Bloody woman was terrifying.

"N-Narcissa said something about letting Draco know about the antidote in two days. They were to meet in the same spot in the forest, just right outside the Manor grounds, at midnight."

"And that's all you heard?"

"Yes, I swear to the Dark Lord himself! That's all I heard!"

Bellatrix released him, pondering on the information she'd just been given. Blimey, forget about being rewarded for his report, he just wanted to get the hell away from Bellatrix Lestrange as fast as possible. He turned around and glanced at the door, eager to end his meeting and get out.

"Greyback? Look at me." Bellatrix's voice turned into a low rasp, which made her even more terrifying, if that was possible.

Greyback turned around, and before he could react, Bellatrix raised her wand and pointed it at him.

"Obliviate!"


	9. Chapter 9: Black and White

**Hi, hope you guys liked the previous chapter! This chapter's a bit shorter than the last one, but I hope it'll be just as interesting. ;) **

**Thanks for all of the new follows, favorites and reviews! Keep em coming, guys! :)**

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**Chapter Nine: Black and White**

Greyback's eyes became unfocused for a second, and he stumbled a bit from being disoriented by the force of Bellatrix's spell.

"Wha..wha happen?" he mumbled stupidly.

"What do you mean what happened? I was reprimanding you for neglecting your patrol duties, you blithering idiot!" Bellatrix lied.

"I-I'm sorry, Madam Lestrange. I don't know what got into me. Won't happen again, I promise!"  
Greyback quickly replied.

"Leave. You're bothering me, werewolf." Bellatrix clucked her tongue impatiently.

"Yes, madam. I'm sorry." said a still very much confused and disoriented Greyback as turned to leave the room.

"And if this happens again, Greyback, I swear to Salazar himself I will disembowel you and hang your filthy entrails on the gates of this manor." Bellatrix added for good measure. Her inferiors can never be _too_ scared of her.

Greyback looked at her with a look of pure terror in his face, nodded, then left the drawing room without another word.

Bellatrix paced around the room, processing Greyback's report. She wasn't surprised at how Draco wanted to protect the filthy Mudblood, in fact she was expecting him to return to the Manor to search for a cure for the poison, but Bellatrix would have thought that Draco would go directly to her, not arranging secret meetings and plotting with her sister. She underestimated her nephew, but on the other hand, arranging a meeting where anybody could hear them was foolish, and Bellatrix was glad that Greyback reported the meeting solely to her. There was no need in getting the whole Death Eater circle involved in this.

Bellatrix knew Draco cared for Hermione Granger deeply, even if her nephew did not know it yet himself. In the many hours she had spent teaching her nephew the art of Occlumency, Bellatrix had delved into Draco's innermost thoughts, penetrating them effortlessly as he fought to put up barriers to block her from his mind. She saw his deepest, most well-kept thoughts, which mostly consisted of the mudblood. She saw how Draco beat himself up mentally after seeing Hermione's pained expression when he first called her a mudblood in their second year, how he secretly admired her for having the guts to stand up to him and punch him in the face in their third year, how Draco watched with unexplainable jealously as she danced with Viktor Krum in the Yule Ball, and how he stood by the entrance of the Great Hall, watching helplessly as he saw Hermione Granger crying by the staircase.

Yes, Bellatrix knew that Draco felt something towards Hermione Granger, and she was about to use that knowledge to her advantage.

"Rita!" Bellatrix summoned her house-elf, or rather, Lucius's house-elf.

The young elf appeared in front of her immediately. "You c-called, Madam Lestrange?" she squeaked.

"Fetch Lucius for me, immediately. Tell him I have to discuss matters of great consequence with him."

"Yes, madam. Of course." the house elf bowed, and disappeared quickly.

* * *

"You called?" Lucius said as he stepped into his drawing room.

"You certainly took your sweet time didn't you? I specifically told Rita to tell you to hurry up." Bellatrix demanded.

"Forgive me, I'm not used to being woken up at this sort of hour, Bella. And I don't think I quite approve of you using my own personal house elf, for that matter." Lucius replied through clenched teeth.

"My my, don't we have a temper tonight?" Bellatrix giggled.

"Don't play with me, Bella. What is this 'matter of great consequence' you're talking about?"

"Well...a little birdie- er, werewolf- told me something about Narcissa meeting your son in the woods tonight."

"Why in Merlin's name would my wife meet up with that bloodtraitor?" Lucius said.

"To cure that filthy little mudblood, why else?" Bellatrix responded smugly.

"Cure the mudblood? Bella, you're talking nonsense again."

"Don't you remember that little poison you gave me?"

"Poison…what does that have to do with anything?"

"I used it on the mudblood. Laced my dagger with the poison, in fact." Bellatrix said, victory flashing in her eyes.

"What?" exclaimed Lucius. "I told you that poison was to be used only in the most dire of situations! What were you doing wasting it with that mudblood?"

"Obviously I wanted to kill her, didn't I? But no matter, her life is of importance to me now. _She must not die_. Not yet, anyways."

"Have you gone completely insane? You want to _save _the mudblood now? And why in Salazar's great name would you want to do that?"

"Don't you see it?"

"See what, exactly?"

"Draco would do anything for that cure, Lucius. _Anything_. And if we do give it to him, he'll be completely in our debt. He'd do anything we ask of him!" Bellatrix said triumphantly.

"And what exactly are you going to ask of him, Bella?"

"To turn spy for us. To infiltrate the Order of the Phoenix and the Golden Trio, and tell us all about their plans. Think about it, Lucius, we'll win everything back in the end! We'll be able to defeat the Potter boy _and_ win back the favor of the Dark Lord!" Bellatrix gushed out maniacally.

"There are certain holes in your plan, Bellatrix. How are you sure that Draco would do anything for the cure?" Lucius asked dubiously.

"Trust me, Lucius, our little Draco would do anything to save the mudblood." said Bellatrix as she gave a smug smile.

"And how exactly is Draco going to infiltrate the Golden Trio if we have two of them locked up in our dungeons?"

"Simple. We set them free."

"W-what? After all the trouble we went through to catch them, we're just going to set them free?!"

"Well, _we're _not going to do it, of course. That'll be too bloody obvious. No, I'll take care of everything, don't worry. You don't have to do a single thing."

"Are you sure about this, Bella? The repercussions of doing this are grave, you know."

"But the reward if we succeed is even greater! For _months _everybody has looked down on our family. We've lost the favor of the Dark Lord and now everybody has treated us like scum. Look, the only use you've been to the Dark Lord these past few months was giving up your house to be used as headquarters. And your wand, of course, which was completely useless once it was broken. We have to salvage our family names before it goes into complete and utter shame!"

Lucius winced. Bellatrix's remarks hit home. He was absolutely tired of everyone pushing him around, as if he were inferior to them. He was so tired of Death Eaters in his home, traipsing about as if it were theirs. And he was most tired of being looked down upon by the Dark Lord, when he was once considered as one of his closest allies.

"Let's do it, then."

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**By the way, in case no one gets the title of this chapter...it's called Black and White since Bellatrix's last name is Black and Lucius's family is known for their white hair. Haha. Okay, I thought it was kiiind of witty. **

**Anyways, don't forget to leave a review!**


	10. Chapter 10: The Escape

**Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the amazing J.K Rowling. **

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**Hey guys, I know I've only updated yesterday, but I was pretty excited when I finished another one that I decided to post it immediately! :) Hope you guys like it!**

**And thanks again to all of the new follows, favorites and reviews! You have no idea how much it makes me happy. :)**

**PS: I'll try my best to make the next chapters longer, starting with this one. :)**

**Don't forget to review! :)**

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**Chapter Ten: The Escape**

Harry opened his eyes as he woke up from his nap. He had no idea what time it was, or how long he'd been locked up in the cold, dark dungeon. How long had they been in here? Two, three days? A week? The days seemed to drag on forever, each passing hour draining them more and more of their hope.

The only thing that kept Harry and the others spirits up was the fact that Hermione had somehow managed to escape this wretched place. Pettigrew, completely charmed by Luna, told them all about it. How Bellatrix asked Draco to torture the mudblood, how the Death Eaters laughed and jeered at him when he had been unable to do so, and how Draco ended up Disapparating with Hermione.

Ron had gone completely ballistic when he first heard about the news of Hermione's escape.

"Why in Merlin's good name would Malfoy save Hermione? He completely loathes her!"

"I don't know, Ron. Maybe...maybe he's had a change of heart? After all, he never did reveal who I was when his father sent him to identify me." he replied.

"Yeah, well, that's different! Maybe he was just too bloody frightened to make a mistake!"

"He _knew_ it was me, Ron. I could tell by the look in his eyes. He didn't want to give me away...something in him stopped him from giving me away." realization dawned on Harry as he said it.

"There's always something innately good in everyone, Ronald. Not everyone is irredeemable." stated a serene Luna.

"But this is Malfoy we're talking about! _Malfoy_! The bloody git who strutted about Hogwarts, convinced of his own superiority to other students. The Prince of Slytherin who despised Mudbloods! And everyone knows that Hermione and Malfoy hated each other, who's to say he didn't just disappear with Hermione so that he could do away with her himself?"

"I don't think he'd do that, mate. Malfoy's a right foul git, I know, but he's not stupid. Why would he risk getting disowned by his family and be branded as a bloodtraitor and an enemy of the Death Eaters just because of little school rivalry? It's not bloody worth it, if you ask me. Besides, Bellatrix would've killed Hermione in the end anyways, there was no point in him taking her away so that he could do away with her himself." Dean reasoned out.

In the end, that had shut Ron up, and he went back to being his normal, surly self, turning the Deluminator on and off repeatedly until Luna took it away from him.

"Stop it, Ronald, can't you see it's bothering Ollivander?" Luna scolded.

Ron glanced over to the corner of the dungeon, where Ollivander was crouching, his hands over his eyes as he moaned silently in pain.

"Oh...right. Merlin, I'm sorry, Ollivander. Didn't know it bothered you so much." Ron murmured sheepishly as Luna comforted the sick old wandmaker.

The gates of the dungeons opened and Pettigrew stepped in, holding his wand threateningly to the prisoners to keep them from escaping. He was holding a rather large sack, which contained their food provisions for the day, Harry guessed. They had learned to ration the food that was given to them, as they had no idea when the next bag of food would be given. Pettigrew had neglected to give them any food for a day when Ron had threatened the servant, overpowering him and pinning him up against the wall with his hands clasped around his throat. Luckily for Pettigrew, Yaxley happened to pass by the dungeons that exact same moment, and Ron released him immediately.

Pettigrew dropped the bag as far away from the prisoners as possible, and retreated immediately.

"Hmm…that's interesting." commented Luna.

"What's interesting, Luna?" Harry asked, expecting to hear Luna babble about Nargle infestations or something of the sort.

"Pettigrew didn't seal the gates with an enchantment this time."

"What?" Harry sat up immediately. "Are you sure, Luna?"

"Positive. I also noticed he was acting quite strange today. I wonder why." she replied dreamily.

"Who cares why? Pettigrew forgot to lock the gates, we're free!" exclaimed Ron as he bolted for the door immediately.

"Wait!" Harry shouted at Ron. "It's too easy…it might be a trap. We have to think this through."

"_No_, I'm done waiting Harry! I've been stuck in this dingy old dungeon for days, not knowing what's happened to Hermione, not knowing what's happened to my family…and now we have a chance at escaping, I'm not gonna let it pass!" shouted Ron, with a manic gleam in his eyes. Imprisonment had not been good to him.

Before Harry or the others could reply, Ron opened the dungeon gates and started up the stairs.

"Dean, Luna! Help Mr. Ollivander up the stairs, I'll meet you there. This is it…we're leaving!" Harry ordered his old schoolmates. He wasn't about to let Ron escape alone, lest he encounter Death Eaters along the way.

Harry immediately caught up with Ron, who was at the top of the stairs. He was standing there, looking petrified, and Harry only had to glance to his left to see wh. Pettigrew stood there, his wand pointed at Ron. Harry had no choice, he ran and tackled Pettigrew, who fell on the ground. Ron, breaking out of his trance, immediately helped Harry and seized Wormtail's wand arm and forced it upward; Harry slapped a hand to his mouth, muffling his voice. Silently they struggled: Wormtail's wand emitted sparks, his silver hand closed around Harry's throat.

"You're going to kill me?" Harry choked, attempting to pry off the metal fingers. "After I saved your life? You owe me, Wormtail!"

The silver fingers slackened. Harry had not expected it: He wrenched himself free, astonished, keeping his hand over Wormtail's mouth. He saw the ratlike man's small watery eyes widen with fear and surprise: He seemed just as shocked as Harry at what his hand had done, at the tiny, merciful impulse it had betrayed, and he continued to struggle more powerfully, as though to undo that moment of weakness.

"And we'll have that," whispered Ron, tugging Wormtail's wand from his other hand.

Wandless, helpless, Pettigrew's pupils dilated in terror. His eyes had slid from Harry's face to something else. His own silver fingers were moving inexorably towards his own throat.

"No!" shouted Harry. Without pausing to think, he tried to drag back the hand, but there was no stopping it. The silver tool that Voldemort had given his most cowardly servant had turned upon its disarmed and useless owner; Pettigrew was reaping his reward for his hesitation, his moment of pity; he was being strangled before their eyes.

"No!" Ron had released Wormtail too, and together he and Harry tried to pull the crushing metal fingers from around Wormtail's throat, but it was no use. Pettigrew was turning blue.

"Relashio!" said Ron, pointing the wand at the silver hand, but nothing happened; Pettigrew dropped to his knees, and his eyes rolled upward in his purple face; he gave a last twitch, and was still.

Luna and the others arrived by that point, the three of them looking astonished with what had happened to the ratlike servant.

"Not everyone is irredeemable." whispered Luna in a voice that made Harry's spine tingle.

"Come on guys, we have to move fast before someone sees us." Dean said, breaking the silence.

They left Pettigrew lying on the floor and proceeded to go to the Drawing Room, where they knew they could Apparate out of. Ron handed Harry the wand he stole from Pettigrew, saying that he was much better at casting defensive spells than he was.

The group silently sneaked across the manor, careful not to make too much noise that would alert the Death Eaters of their presence. They almost made it across the ballroom, when Ollivander had a terrible coughing fit.

"Who's there?" shouted a man whom Harry recognized as Dolohov, one of the Death Eaters who had attacked them at Tottenham Court Road.

"Rowle, they're escaping! The prisoners are escaping!" Dolohov shouted once more, alerting his fellow Death Eater as he spotted the prisoners.

"Expelliarmus!" shouted Harry.

Dolohov's wand flew out of his hand, and was promptly caught by Ron. Dolohov, undaunted, ran towards the prisoners with the intent of attacking them in physical combat.

"Everte Statum!" yelled Ron, sending Dolohov flying the opposite way, crashing to the wall and landing in an unconscious heap.

"Nice one." said Harry, grinning.

"Always the tone of surprise." replied Ron, grinning as well.

"Listen, you three make your way to the Drawing Room and try to Apparate your way out of there. Ron and I will try to keep away any Death Eaters that might follow you."

"Where exactly are we going to Apparate to, mate?" Dean asked.

"Bill and Fleur's" said Ron. "Shell Cottage on the outskirts of Tinworth."

Dean nodded and assisted Luna and Ollivander as they made their way to the Drawing Room.

Dolohov's crash alerted the other Death Eaters, and Thorfinn Rowle came running down the grand staircase immediately.

"THE PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING!" he shouted, seeing Harry and Ron in the center of the ballroom, and the other three prisoners slowly making their way to the Drawing Room.

He fired a Killing Curse towards them, which passed a few inches away from Ron.

"Stupefy!" shouted Harry, but Rowle deflected the spell with a mere flick of his wand.

By then, two other Death Eaters had arrived on the scene. There were now three of them, causing Harry and Ron to be outnumbered. The duo fought hard, though, and for a while the fight was even between the two sides.

"Enjoying the view, are we?" Bellatrix whispered into Lucius's ear as she found him watching the scene, hidden in the shadows.

"Merlin, Bella! Don't scare me like that, I would've cursed you to oblivion!" exclaimed a startled Lucius.

Bellatrix merely giggled. "Looks like everything's going according to plan." she said smugly.

"And what if Potter and Weasley lose the fight?"

"Do you honestly think that Rowle, Crabbe and Goyle would be able to beat them? They're idiots! Why do you think I made sure they were the only Death Eaters on duty tonight?"

"And how exactly did our prisoners get out of the dungeons?"

"I placed our little Wormtail under the Imperius Curse, and he made him _conveniently forget_ to lock the doors to the dungeon." grinned Bellatrix.

"The Dark Lord will kill him if he finds out." stated Lucius.

"Better him than us." Bellatrix shrugged, completely unfazed.

"This plan better work, Bella. Or else we're done for." said Lucius, worrying about the consequences of the plan.

"Don't be stupid, _of course_ it'll work! Do you dare doubt my word?" hissed Bellatrix.

"O-of course not. But what if it does fail?"

"Stop worrying, Lucius! Potter and Weasley _will_ escape, and Draco _will_ get into the Order's good graces once he cures the Mudblood. They'll think he's been reformed or redeemed, and he'll be privy to all of their information. And once he tells us all about their plans, we report them to the Dark Lord and _we'll_ be redeemed in his eyes. It's simple!"

"You better be right, Bella, or else we've just let the most wanted boy in the Wizarding World slip right under our noses."

Bellatrix turned to look at the scene below them. Lucius was right, Potter and Weasley were winning against the three other Death Eaters. Rowle had managed to hit Potter with a curse, and the latter was bleeding onto the marble floor. Weasley, in turn had retaliated with an Impedimenta Jinx, causing Rowle to be immobilized. Crabbe and Goyle, on the other hand, seemed to have forgotten all about their wands and were running across the ballroom. Bellatrix winced when the two almost got close enough to tackle the young wizards, but Potter quickly shouted "Expulso!", and the columns of the ballroom collapsed, forming a barricade between the the two boys and the Death Eaters. With no one to hinder them from escaping, the two boys ran towards the drawing room, blasted the doors open, and the Disapparated.


	11. Chapter 11: Deception and Delirium

**Hey guys! :) New update, yay! Tried to make this chapter longer and included some Dramione in it ;) Hope you like it!**

**And thanks to all who followed, favorited and reviewed...you guys made me so happy :) **

**Don't forget to leave a review!**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Deception and Delirium**

Draco stood by Hermione's bed. It was well past midnight now, and he'd just arrived at Deepwater Inn from his secret meeting with his mother. Florean had watched over Hermione as promised, and had insisted that he bring some food over for him when he heard Draco's stomach grumble. Draco had naturally been embarrassed about that, his mother had always imposed the gravity of manners to him, and having his stomach grumble loudly in front of someone was not considered as good decorum in their social circles. Narcissa would no doubt kill him for that, but Florean didn't seem to mind. He simply gave a chuckle and promised to return with some food for the obviously hungry boy.

He stared at Hermione as she slept; her forehead glistened with sweat as her fever raged on. Draco sighed, he had never felt so useless; not since the Yule Ball, when he saw her crying her heart out on the staircase right outside the Great Hall. He desperately wanted to approach her then, to ask her what was wrong or to ask her if she needed anything, maybe even beat Weasley up for insulting her…but more than anything he just wanted to be there for her. To be a shoulder to cry on, and to comfort her as she cried. He actually would have gone to her, if it hadn't been for Pansy, who came stomping out of the Great Hall, shrieking about how Draco had abandoned her and demanded him to dance with her one more time. Draco almost murdered the spoiled little Slytherin right there for ruining his chance with Hermione. He shot daggers at her the entire dance, but Pansy hadn't noticed. She was too busy looking over his shoulder, staring at Marcus Flint and his date jealously. Draco knew that Pansy never had feelings for him and that she simply asked him to the Yule Ball to make Flint jealous, but Draco had promised her that he'd be her escort to the ball, and Malfoys never went back on their word.

Draco had rushed out of the Great Hall as soon as the dance ended, but Hermione was no longer crying at the staircase. Instead he had found her with Viktor Krum, apologizing for her behavior and explaining how Weasley had mocked and humiliated her. He saw how Krum put his arm around her waist, pulling her in for a hug as he comforted her. Draco's blood boiled with rage; he wanted to pull Krum's arm out of its socket and hex him to oblivion for even daring to touch Hermione. Thankfully Zabini had come out of the Great Hall that exact moment, and dragged him back to the Slytherin common room.

_"What was that?" Blaise demanded as soon as they got inside their common room._

_"What was what?"_

_"You looked like you were about to hex Viktor Krum, mate!"_

_"Like hell I was! Why in Merlin's pants would I want to do that?" Draco said, hoping that Blaise would stop pestering him about what had happened outside the Great Hall._

_"Why would I know? You were the one who had your bloody wand out!" Zabini hissed._

_"You're imagining things, Zabini. Now if you excuse me, I'm heading off to bed." Draco said firmly, ending the discussion as he stood up and headed up to the dormitories._

_"Was it because of Granger?" Blaise called out, making Draco stop in his tracks._

_"W-what?" he sputtered._

_"Do you fancy her?"_

_"Of course not! Bloody hell, she's a mudblood, Zabini!" hissed Draco and slammed the door as he went inside their dormitory._

He feigned sleep as Blaise entered their dormitory; he didn't want to talk to him about their argument. He lay in bed for hours, thinking about what had happened. Why _was_ he so protective of the mudblood? Blaise was right, he was just about to hex Krum before Blaise rescued him. But why? What was it about her that made him act like this? Draco thought about it the entire night, utterly confused about what he felt about Hermione Granger. But in the end, thoughts of his parents' reactions stopped his newly developing feelings for the muggle-born. He knew exactly how they would react. Narcissa would probably die of shock and cry about how her only son had feelings for a filthy mudblood, and Lucius would probably give him the torture of his lifetime. Draco shuddered with fright at the thought of being put under the Cruciatus Curse once more, and that had stopped him from thinking about Hermione Granger in that way ever again.

But as he stared at her now, those "feelings" couldn't help but return full force. Seeing her lying on the bed with fever and poison spreading throughout her fragile-looking body made Draco want to protect her. To shield her body from everything that was harming it. Hell, he'd even trade places with her; he'd take the poison gladly if it meant saving her life. But he still didn't understand why he wanted to protect Hermione so badly. He didn't love her, Merlin no, but he didn't loathe her as he had always pretended. No, in fact he respected her. Respected how she was the one person who could stand up to him, the one person who can put him in his place. She was also the smartest in their year, narrowly surpassing him. She wasn't like any of his other classmates. She was beautiful, smart, clever...

"Ahem."

The voice broke through Draco's thoughts, and he immediately stopped staring at Hermione and glanced at the door instead.

"Here's the food I promised you." said Florean, carrying a tray full of food in his arms.

"Thanks, Florean."

"I'd just put it down and leave you to your thoughts, then." Florean winked and left the room.

Draco put the tray down by the small table next to the couch. He suddenly felt ravenous. Bloody hell, when was the last time he ate? Draco was so worried about the mudblood to even think about eating. He was glad that Florean had brought him a wide array of food, even bringing him his favorite foods. Draco was surprised he even remembered what he liked.

As he was finishing the last few bites of his food, Hermione suddenly started thrashing in her sleep.

"W-we found it…please…no m-more." pleaded Hermione as she kicked and screamed in her bed, her fever making her completely delirious. Draco quickly jumped up from the couch and rushed to her side.

"Shhh...Hermione, wake up! You're not at Malfoy Manor anymore. Please wake up!" he said as he frantically tried to wake Hermione up, who was obviously having nightmares about her time at Malfoy Manor.

"AHHHHHHH!" Hermione cried out as her body contracted as though it were being put under the Cruciatus Curse once more.

Draco shook Hermione even harder, panicking when he saw tears fall from her eyes. "Hermione, please wake up! Please wake up!"

Hermione's eyes flew open at the sound of Draco's voice. "M-malfoy?" she said confusedly.

"Yes Granger, I'm here." he whispered as he held the sobbing Hermione in his arms.

"She was torturing me, Malfoy! You're aunt was t-torturing me again." Hermione whimpered as she sobbed into Draco's chest.

"It's okay, Granger...I'm here. I won't let anyone torture you, I promise."

"Stay with me tonight. Please, Draco." she whispered.

Draco's heart swelled when he heard her use his first name. "Of course I will." he said as he climbed into her bed and held her in his arms.

Hermione sighed as she felt Draco's arms wrap around her protectively. She knew this was a dream; why else would the mudblood-hating Slytherin prince willingly touch her, let alone hold her in his arms? But still, it felt nice, and Hermione didn't want him to let go of her anytime soon. She felt absolutely safe in his strong arms, and after a while she was able to forget about her nightmares and finally fall into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

Narcissa made her way to Lucius's private office. There was some sort of commotion going on at the ballroom, and Narcissa took advantage of it as all of the Death Eaters' attention turned to the ballroom. She had no idea where to start searching for the antidote, as Lucius had told her so little about it. She vaguely remembered him mentioning that the poison was originally used by Brutus Malfoy, his ancestor who perpetuated the prejudice that wizards and witches who associated with Muggles lacked intelligence and magical ability. Brutus, like most of the Malfoys, had been against Mudbloods, and had most likely used the poison to get rid of them.

Narcissa started her search with the cabinet that contained various information about the Malfoy family: how much land they owned, their possessions and other historical records. She searched and searched, but found nothing. But Narcissa remained undaunted; she knew this task wasn't going to be an easy one, but she had promised Draco the cure, and she didn't plan on breaking that promise.

She continued her search, checking the bookcase this time, which contained biographies of the old Malfoys. There were many books about them: there was a book about Armand Malfoy and his journey to Britain in the 11th century and his use of magical coercion to obtain massive amounts of lands from King William I; another was about Nicholas Malfoy, who had dispatched many of his muggle tenants off his land by using a spell that had been disguised as the Black Death; the next one was about Lucius Malfoy I, and the story of his unsuccessful courtship with Elizabeth I, the latter ending up with a nasty hex placed upon her as she rejected Lucius's hand in marriage. Narcissa shuddered, the Malfoy ancestors truly were a greedy and horrible lot, and she was starting to regret being tied to one in the first place. She placed the last book back in the shelf when she heard a voice call out to her.

"Looking for something, Narcissa?" Lucius asked his wife.

"No, merely looking at the old Malfoy bloodline." answered Narcissa nonchalantly.

"Ah yes, dear old father and grandfather. Find anything interesting?"

"Not really. I just noticed there wasn't anything here about Brutus Malfoy."

"Brutus Malfoy? What do you want to know about him?" Lucius asked warily.

"Well nothing in particular, I just noticed that he was the only Malfoy ancestor who didn't have a book written about him."

"Really, dear? That's odd. It must have been misplaced. Did you ask Rita if she might have moved it while cleaning?" Lucius replied with a glint his eye.

"No I haven't. I-It's not really important, I was just wondering about it. Do forgive me, dear."

"Of course, it's no problem at all." Lucius attempted to smile, but it came out as more of a menacing grin.

"So what was the commotion in the ballroom about?" Narcissa asked, attempting to change the topic of their conversation.

"Oh, that. Well, the prisoners have escaped." Lucius said with a shrug.

"What?! How exactly did that happen?" demanded Narcissa.

"Apparently Wormtail forgot to lock the dungeons, and the prisoners took their chance and escaped through the Drawing Room. Dolohov and Rowle are still out cold, and half the ballroom looks like it was demolished."

Narcissa's face paled. "Bella must've been furious." she whispered.

"She managed to handle herself." Lucius shrugged again.

"Oh. Well that's…good, I suppose. Anyways, I'm a bit weary from all the exciting events tonight, I think I better go ahead and retire to my room."

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Goodnight, Lucius." she said, and left the room hurriedly. What was that? Narcissa wondered. It had been ages since Lucius had called her 'sweetheart'. It had been his nickname for her when they first started their courtship. But lately Lucius had been distant, spending more time with her sister Bellatrix than he did with her. Not that Narcissa minded, but she was definitely taken aback with her husband's actions tonight. He acted quite strange, even for him, and Narcissa couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that something was very off about Lucius.

But Narcissa couldn't afford to ponder on what might have caused Lucius's odd behavior. She hurried back to her room and summoned Rita, their house-elf, and demanded to know where the book about Brutus Malfoy was.

* * *

"Well?" Bellatrix demanded as Lucius entered the Drawing Room, which had been magically repaired after the prisoners blasted through the room.

"I found her looking for a book about Brutus Malfoy in my office." Lucius replied.

"And did she find it?"

"Of course not. I'm not going to make it that easy for her, am I?"

"No, you shouldn't. But are you sure you've fed her with enough information that will lead her to the cure?"

"Why Bella, are you doubting your sister's intelligence?" Lucius mocked.

"Of course not! Cissy is clever; she _is_ a Black after all. It's _your_ intelligence I doubt, Lucius."

Lucius turned red in anger. "Well I'm telling you that Narcissa is in her room right now, no doubt summoning my house-elf and asking her to look for the book that will lead her to the cure."

"And you're absolutely certain she'll find it before her meeting with Draco?"

"Positive." Lucius smirked.

"Well the second phase of our plan is complete, then." said Bellatrix as she gave a loud cackle.

* * *

**Well there you have it! Some Dramione scenes plus Lucius and Bellatrix scheming...wonder what the next phase of their plan is? **

**Don't forget to leave a review! And tell me what you guys would wanna see in the next few chapters, I'd love to know what you guys wanna happen! :)**


	12. Chapter 12: The Day After

**Hey guys! Decided to update a little earlier than expected, since some of you asked me to update faster. :)**

**Hope you guys like this next chapter! And thanks again to all who followed, favorited and reviewed!**

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**Chapter Twelve: The Day After****  
**  
Hermione woke up the next day with her head throbbing, reminding her of the fever that had yet to go away. But that didn't ruin her good mood. She'd just had the best nap of her life; she could barely remember when the last time she had slept so well was. She had the most intoxicating dream, too. She could only recall parts of it, but she knew there had been a man. A man who wrapped his arms around her, making her feel so safe and protected. Hermione sighed; she wished that it had been more than a dream, and that her Prince Charming existed in real life. She made a move to sit up, but a strong arm wrapped around her waist kept her from doing so.

"AHHHHHH!" she screamed as she realized there was somebody else sleeping on her bed.

The sleeping figure awoke with surprise. He rolled off the bed and landed onto the floor, panicking as he heard Hermione scream.

"Bloody hell, woman! Is that any way to wake a person up?!" Draco shouted as he picked himself up from the floor, groaning with pain as he did so.

"_Malfoy_?! Why...why were you in my bed?!" Hermione shouted.

"Excuse me, _you_ were the one who asked me to stay with you in the first place!" Draco replied angrily.

"_What_?! Why in Merlin's name would I do that?!" she screamed.

"Rack your brains, Granger. Sleeping in your bed was definitely not _my_ idea!"

Hermione turned pale as she started to remember what she had assumed was a dream. "T-that wasn't a dream...?" she whispered.

"Ten points to Gryffindor, she's finally got it!" Draco mocked.

That made Hermione furious. She rose from the bed and walked towards Draco, the latter backing away in fear.

"Now listen here, you foul loathsome evil little cockroach! You had absolutely no right taking advantage of me whilst I was obviously delirious from my fever! I can't believe you, you are such a _Slytherin_, taking every chance to violate a person's privacy! You are absolutely disgusting do you know that?! You're just like the rest of them; you're father and his Death Eater cronies. You're nothing but an evil little Death Eater with horrible intentions!"

That was the final straw for Draco. If he was scared about Hermione's temper a second ago, he definitely was not now. "How _dare_ you call me an evil little Death Eater! How _dare _you compare me to the rest of them! You have _no idea_ what I've gone through; you have _no idea_ what I had to do in order to protect my family! And you have absolutely _no idea_ what I stand to lose because of what I've done for you! So before you start making assumptions and hurling names at me, why don't you think about where you'd be if it weren't for me." he seethed.

"Oh, so you think that just because you saved my life you get to sleep with me?! I don't know if that's how you Slytherins do it, _Malfoy_, but that's definitely not how…how…it w-works." Hermione started to feel incredibly dizzy; the little strength she had gained ever since her arrival at Deepwater Inn was completely used up from her screaming match with Draco.

"Granger!" was the last thing she heard before she fainted into Draco's steady arms.

Draco was furious, he couldn't believe it; the first time he'd actually reached out to the mudblood, she goes completely ballistic and starts screaming and shouting about it! That was definitely _not_ how he pictured it was gonna be like; he thought she'd wake up and thank him for being her knight in shining armor and it'll be perfectly alright between them. But _no_, Granger had to be such a _Gryffindor_ and make a huge deal out of it. He didn't even _sleep_ with her, for goodness sake! Not in that way, anyways. He didn't want to admit it, but the disgust in her eyes at the prospect of even being in the same bed with him really hurt him, as had the accusations of being an evil Death Eater like the others he was associated with. Did she really think that low of him? If anything, he'd proven at every turn how much he was unlike the other Death Eaters. What more could he do to prove that he wasn't like the rest of them?

But Draco couldn't deny that that was the best sleep he'd had in years, ever since news of the Dark Lord's return had spread. He sighed as he sat on the lumpy old couch, it was definitely not going to be easy sleeping tonight, not after the restful sleep he'd had the previous night.

Hermione woke up hours later, her head still throbbing as she sat up in her bed.

"Draco?" she called out, her voice sounding raspy. "Draco!"

"Mmmm. Leave me alone, I don't have the energy to quarrel with you again." the half-asleep boy said.

"Neither do I. Look, can we please talk?" Hermione pleaded.

Draco sat up grudgingly. "Talk about what? I thought you made everything clear earlier, how I'm an evil little Death Eater and you didn't want anything to do with me."

Hermione sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, Malfoy. I admit that I might have overreacted. I was the one who asked you to stay in bed with me, I didn't have any right to get mad at you for simply doing what I asked."

"S'okay." muttered the petulant Slytherin.

"Where are we, anyways? You didn't quite explain to me why we're hiding in a Muggle inn."

"It's…uhm…it's a long story." said Draco, hesitating.

"I'd still like to hear it." said Hermione kindly.

"Well it all started when I was ten years old, Father had just started punishing me with the Cruciatus Curse. It was an old Malfoy practice, you see. Father experienced it, my Grandfather experienced it, my Great-Grandfather experienced it...well you get the picture. Anyways, I was ten years old and I was frightened. I'd just broken one of the old family heirlooms, and Father found out about it. He subjected me to a long, painful torture, and left me completely alone afterwards. My mother didn't know about it, she was out arranging some ball with her friends; and my father prohibited our house-elf, Rita, from tending to me. That made me furious. I was sick of being tortured for the littlest things, so I ran away. I walked for miles, not knowing where to go, scared that my father would find me and that he'd end up torturing me even more. In the end I came upon this Muggle village; it was late in the afternoon, and I was completely famished. I went in one of the shops, looking around for food, and that's when Florean found me. He asked me why I was alone, and if anyone was looking for me. I told him no, no one cared where I was. I think he suspected that I was being abused by someone in my family, that's why he took me to his inn. He took care of me, fed and bathed me. And in return I helped around the inn, babysitting his one year old daughter, Eloise, and doing menial chores. After a few days, however, I knew that my mum would be hysterical. I loved my mum; she wasn't like the others in our social circle. She was strict, yes, but she loved and cared for me. You see, most mums would just leave their children to be raised up by the house-elf and hired tutors, but my mother was always there for me. And right then I knew I had to go back to the mansion, not for my father, but for my mum. And that's how it's been ever since; Father would torture me, and I'd run away to this inn, where Florean would tend to me, to all the bruises and cuts Father gave me. Father also had a habit of beating me up, besides using the Cruciatus Curse. Florean, on the other hand, was like a father to me. Sometimes...sometimes I wish I was his real son, so that I'd be far away from the Wizarding World and all of the mess that comes with being a Death Eater's son." he ended his story with a sad little smile and a shrug.

Hermione's face was filled with tears. This was a completely different side to the Draco Malfoy she knew. For years she'd loathed him, loathed how he'd acted towards her; how he mocked and taunted her for her muggle heritage. But Hermione realized that he was probably secretly jealous of her all these years, of her anonymity as a muggle-born and her lack of association with the Dark Side. Everybody had hated and envied Draco Malfoy and his endless riches and numerous connections. Everybody who had been associated with him had thought they knew him, but the truth was, nobody _really_ knew Draco. Nobody knew what he'd been through and what he had to do to for his family. Hermione knew that she was probably the only person Draco had ever told anyone of his past, that not even Pansy or Blaise knew about this, and she felt incredibly humbled.

"That's horrible, Draco. I'm sorry…." she said and got up and moved to the couch, placing her hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"I managed." he said simply.

"So that's how you knew about the chocolate cake, and how it would make me feel better."

"Well, yeah. I've had enough experience to know that it would work."

Hermione winced. She pictured a ten year old Draco Malfoy being tortured by his father. She couldn't imagine how a father could bear to torture his own son.

"Look, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, okay? I don't even know why I told you this in the first place." Draco said as he removed Hermione's hand from his shoulder.

Hermione wasn't fazed by his response, instead, she saw the hurt little boy in him, completely ignored by his father and she knew his reaction was completely natural. He couldn't bear getting close to anyone for fear of getting hurt again.

"Didn't your mother ever know what your father did to you?" she dared to ask.

"Yes...yes she did. But she couldn't do anything about it. She was raised to believe that a wife's place was simply to agree with everything her husband says or does. She hated what my father did to me, but she just didn't have it in her to stand up to him." he sighed.

Hermione knew that she shouldn't push him any further, for he might easily shut her out and refuse to tell her any more. "I never got to properly thank you for saving my life. So, thank you, Draco." she said.

"Don't thank me yet." Draco replied somberly.

"What do you mean?"

Draco didn't know exactly how to tell her about what his aunt did. What if he didn't find the cure for her? How exactly does one tell a person that she might die in three days?

"What do you mean, Draco?"

"Granger, that fever of yours...it's not an aftereffect of the Cruciatus Curse. It's the effect of being poisoned."

"Poisoned? I was poisoned?! But...how?" Hermione's eyes widened in surprise.

"The knife Bellatrix used on you was dipped in poison. And when she cut you on your arm, the poison entered through your bloodstream."

Hermione ripped off the bandage on her arm that Draco had replaced merely two hours ago. She gasped as she saw the wound and the black, poisoned-filled veins slowly snaking its way up to her arm.

"So...I-I'm dying?" she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

It was Draco's turn to put his hand on her shoulder.

"No, don't say that. You're not going to die, Hermione." he assured her.

"Don't lie to me, Draco. You don't know what the antidote is, do you?"

Draco bowed his head, and Hermione had her answer.

"Oh god." she said and cupped her hand to her mouth, as she started to shake violently. "Oh god, I'm dying. I...I don't want to die." she sobbed.

Draco didn't know what to do; he was at a complete loss. He had no idea how to comfort her, given the hysterical state she'd been in earlier when she woke up next to him. He still hadn't forgotten the look of disgust on her face when she saw him sleeping next to her, so he merely patted her on the back awkwardly.

"My parents...they don't even know they have a daughter. I'm going to die without seeing them for at least one last time; I'm never going to see Harry, Ron and Ginny again...nor Neville, Luna, Fred or George...I'm never going to be able to take the NEWTs, find a job at the Ministry...I'm never going to get married or have kids. I'm not even going to live to see the end of this war. I'm going to die without getting my happy ever after." Hermione broke down completely.

Draco's heart broke for Hermione, and he pulled her in for a hug. "Shh…don't you worry, Hermione, I'm not going to let you die. I promise you, _I'm not going to let you die."  
_  
A clock chimed somewhere in the inn, and Draco knew he had ten minutes until midnight. Ten minutes until he would get to see Narcissa again. Ten minutes until he would find out whether or not Hermione would indeed live to see the end of the war.

He kissed her gently on her forehead. "Don't worry, Hermione, I'll make sure you get that happy ever after of yours." he whispered before he stood up and left.

* * *

Narcissa hurriedly walked towards the woods outside Malfoy Manor; the antidote had been particularly tricky to locate, as some of the ingredients have been banned by the Ministry and therefore had been difficult to obtain. She almost gave up all hope, but she had finally found all that was needed with the help of an old trusted acquaintance who owned a shop at Knockturn Alley.

Draco had been waiting for his mother for about fifteen minutes now. He grew increasingly worried; what if something bad had happened to his mother? He would never be able to forgive himself if Narcissa got into danger for helping him. Finally, when Draco's nerves were almost spent from worrying about his mother, he heard a voice call out to him.

"Draco?" Narcissa called out softly.

Draco removed the Disillusionment Charm that he had placed upon himself, approached his mother, and gave her a tight hug. "Mother! I was so worried that you'd been caught. What took you so long?"

"I'm sorry you had to worry, dear. Some of the ingredients of the antidote had been particularly difficult to find, but I managed." Narcissa said as she hugged him back, her exhaustion immediately forgotten as she hugged his only son.

"Are you alright, Mother?" Draco asked as he saw his mother's face, there were huge shadows under her eyes and she looked quite weary.

"Yes, yes don't worry about me. Here it is, make sure the mudbl - er, muggleborn, drinks this. It's essence of murtlap, with a bezoar, dandelion root, newt eye and powdered moonstone added into it."

"Did father tell you what the antidote was?" Draco asked curiously.

"Heavens, no, I couldn't risk asking him about it without worrying that he'd figure out what I was up to. But don't worry, I'm sure that this is the antidote."

"Thank you, Mother." Draco said graciously.

"Oh, one last thing! Don't forget to add this, it's a strand of hair plucked from a unicorn's tail, make sure to add it right before she drinks the potion."

Draco nodded and thanked his mother once more.

"Well well well, what do we have here? A mother and son reunion?" Bellatrix's voice interrupted, surprising both Draco and Narcissa.

The two Malfoys both moved to disarm Bellatrix, but they were no match for her. She stunned them both and Apparated back to the Malfoy Manor, her being the only person besides Lucius who can Apparate right into the mansion.

* * *

**There you are! Some Dramione scenes, and Bellatrix action. :) Hope you liked it. Don't forget to leave a review, suggestions are very much appreciated. I'd love to know what you guys want to happen. Thanks!**


	13. Chapter 13: Vows and Kisses

**Hi guys! So glad you liked the previous chapter, hope you like this one as well! It's the longest one I've written so far, whew!**

**And thank you sooo much for the new follows and favorites. And of course, for the reviews! Each one made me so ecstatic. :) Hope you guys keep on reviewing. :)**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Vows and Kisses**

Hermione lay in her bed after Draco left, trying to process everything that had happened that day. She still couldn't accept the fact that she might actually die and wouldn't be able to do anything to prevent it since she was stuck at the inn. This irritated her to no end; she wanted to go out and look for the antidote herself, but she couldn't even make it out of bed without falling over in exhaustion. Why didn't she realize that the fever and fatigue hadn't been an effect of the Cruciatus Curse? She felt dreadful, and not knowing what Bellatrix poisoned her with made her feel worse. Malfoy didn't even tell her what the effects of the poison were, but she knew from the look in his eyes that her situation was grave.

That was another thing Hermione failed to understand: Draco Malfoy. She still found it hard to believe that it was him who rescued him from his own aunt, that it was him who tended and looked after her while she was sick; and _Merlin's beard_, was it really him who had held her in his strong arms while she slept, and again when she broke down in tears? This was a completely different Draco Malfoy, one she felt completely safe and at home with. In fact, she wished he were here right now, holding her tight in his strong muscular arms again, lying in bed with her while keeping her safe from…_wait what_? Did she seriously just think that? Was she _actually_ thinking of Draco Malfoy in that way? Hermione gave a shaky little laugh; her fever must be making her delirious again…

She woke up the next morning, panicking when she couldn't feel her left arm. The poison had spread right up to her shoulder, and Hermione's left arm was completely numb. She was absolutely frightened, a few more days and the poison would reach her heart and stop it from ever beating again. Hermione thought that she probably had a week at least, but the poison acted faster than she initially thought, leaving her to face her own mortality sooner than she had expected. Hermione broke down once more, crying as she desperately tried to force some feeling into her arm, to no avail.

Florean entered the room to bring Hermione her breakfast. "Oh good, you're awake! I wasn't sure if- good grief, why are you crying?" he said, completely caught off guard by the tears streaming down the young girl's face.

Hermione looked over in surprise. "I'm sorry…but who are you?" she managed to say.

"Oh, I forgot that we haven't properly met yet. I'm Florean. Florean Fitzgerald."

"It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Fitzgerald. My n-name's Hermione." Hermione said, withholding her last name as she did not know whether to trust the man or not.

"Come now, none of that 'Mr. Fitzgerald' stuff. Call me, Florean, that's what Draco does." he smiled.

Hermione smiled back at the innkeeper. He did seem like a cheerful and trustworthy person, no wonder Draco cared for him so much.

"Now why are you crying, my dear? Missing your boyfriend already?" he teased.

Hermione looked at him in surprise. "Oh! Draco and I aren't involved. I mean, we're barely even friends."

"Hmm…if you say so." Florean said, clearly not believing her. "So tell me, Hermione, what's making you sad?"

"I…I don't exactly know how to tell you, Florean. What…what exactly do you know? What did Draco tell you?"

"Not much, to be honest. All I know is that you were, uhm, hurt and poisoned by someone you were associated with. Is that what's bothering you?" he asked gently, making Hermione break down in tears once more.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to!" Florean said, not wishing to aggravate the crying girl any more.

"I'm sorry, I'm never t-this emotional…it's just…I c-can't feel my arm anymore." Hermione sobbed.

Florean looked shocked. "You can't move it at all?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head sadly. She sat up on her bed as her left arm flopped awkwardly beside her.

"I'm so sorry about that, dear. So very sorry indeed. But don't you worry, I'm sure that Draco will come back with the cure for that nasty poison. In the mean time, let's not think about it anymore, shall we? No point in getting so sad when I've prepared a wonderful breakfast for you!" Florean smiled, cheering Hermione up a little bit.

"Yes, I think I'd like that very much. Thinking about death isn't really the best way to spend my last few days, is it?"

"You're not going to die, dear." Florean said with such conviction, but Hermione merely shrugged.

"Oh goodness, you've brought so much food! There's no way I can possibly finish all this, I barely have an appetite." Hermione exclaimed as Florean brought the tray of food to her bed.

"Ah, that's no problem. Just try to eat a little bit of everything."

Hermione did, and was genuinely surprised at how delicious everything tasted. She was halfway through her shepherd's pie, when she asked Florean: "Florean, if you don't mind me asking, what was Draco like as a kid?"

"I don't mind at all." Florean smiled, glad that Hermione was thinking about something else besides her impending death. "Draco was...well he was a peculiar little boy. I found him wandering about the village, about nine years ago. Poor boy looked like he was beaten up, and he was ever so polite when I asked him where his parents were. I felt sorry for him; I was an orphan you see, so I knew what it was like to feel abandoned by your parents. So I took him in, brought him to this inn, and took care of him. He was such a shy boy, didn't talk that much on his first visit here, but he helped around as much as he could. Took care of my daughter, Eloise, for me. I was new at inn keeping and a first time father as well; having Draco around certainly kept me from completely losing my marbles."

Hermione smiled as she listened to Florean talk about his first meeting with Draco. She couldn't imagine him as a shy boy who was willing to do chores and babysit a child. It was just so different from the confident bratty young Slytherin she met at Hogwarts. And yet Hermione couldn't miss the tone of Florean's voice as he talked about Draco; he obviously cared for the boy and treated him like his own child.

"The next time he came was about a year after his first visit. He was still pretty shy and was obviously embarrassed at having to impose himself on me, but it was pretty apparent that he didn't know where else to go either. I told him that he could come here anytime he wanted to, anytime he was in trouble, or even if he just wanted to visit. He was starting to grow on me, and I treated him like the son I've never had. He changed a lot over the years, became much more open and at home here. We've gotten quite close as well; he told me about his hopes and dreams, and what he wanted to be if it weren't for his parents. He's a good boy, Draco, he clearly loves his parents and would do anything for them, even if they don't entirely see eye to eye. I'm really quite proud of him." Florean said fondly.

Hermione was lost for words, hearing someone speak so fondly about Draco Malfoy was a bit odd for her; she was so used to hearing people talk about how much of a brat he is, or how he was an arrogant git, but to hear someone think so highly of him made her realize how much she'd misjudged Draco.

"He cares for you, you know. You should've seen him when you were sick, I don't think I've ever seen him looked so distressed before. He ran straight to your room when you fell on the floor and refused to leave your bedside, not even when I told him to go get some sleep."

Hermione felt her face redden…did Draco really do that for her? "He cares for you too, Florean." she said.

"But not in the same way, Hermione. He cares for me like he would a father; he cares for you because he loves you." Florean replied as he stood up and left the room, leaving Hermione to her thoughts.

Draco Malfoy, love her? _Impossible_! Hermione thought. Sure, he might be more caring and selfless than she had originally thought, but for him to love her, a _mudblood_? No, that seemed highly improbable. Florean didn't know what he was saying; he didn't know how Draco was raised by his parents to believe in pureblood supremacy and how his family thought that interaction with muggle-borns was considered a betrayal to their blood status. Draco caring for her was a miracle; him loving her was completely out of question.

But still, Hermione couldn't deny how at home she felt in Draco's arms, and how her heart skipped a beat when he kissed her on her forehead, promising her that he'd give her happy ever after. She was her knight in shining armor, her protector. She sighed, maybe if the circumstances were different… maybe if she wasn't a muggle-born or if Draco wasn't a Slytherin, she could've had feelings for him. But their situation was different, and falling in love with each other was completely forbidden.

* * *

Draco woke up the next day, confused to why he was chained to the wall. He glanced around the dungeon and saw his mother in a similar situation. Then it hit him, _Bellatrix_! How had she known that he was meeting his mother in the forest that night?

"Mother, are you awake?" he whispered.

"Oh Draco! I'm so sorry, my dear, Bella must've found out I was meeting you. I have no idea how, but I'm so sorry." cried Narcissa.

"That's not what I'm worried about, mother. Are you okay? Did she hurt you?" he asked, concerned about his mother's well-being.

"No, don't worry dear, I'm fine. We'll be fine. I'll get us out of here, I promise."

Bellatrix entered the dungeon right then, laughing. "You can try, Cissy, but you won't succeed."

"Bella! How dare you do this to me, to your own _sister_!" Narcissa hissed.

"You stopped being my sister when you decided to help Draco save the mudblood. You disappoint me, Cissy, Mother never raised us to help mudbloods."

"I told you, I'd do whatever it takes to help my son."

"Ooh, what a temper. You really must learn how to control that, sister." said Bellatrix, taunting her sister.

She turned to her nephew. "You disappoint me too, Draco, I had such high hopes for you as my nephew, even trained you with the skills of Legillimency and Occlumency. You would've been a fine servant to the Dark Lord, and how do you repay me? You escaped with the mudblood and now you want to _cure_ her? Tsk tsk tsk, what a shame."

Draco said nothing and instead focused to keep his mind closed, lest Bellatrix would try to find out where Hermione was hidden.

"Lucius, how exactly do we deal with bloodtraitors?" asked Bellatrix, as Narcissa and Draco turned to look at the figure that had just entered the room.

"_Crucio_!" he shouted, pointing at his son. Draco felt the familiar pain of the curse again, his body twitching with pain as he felt millions of knives pierce through his skin. He bit his tongue, trying his best not to shout out in pain. He would not give his father the satisfaction of knowing that he was in agony.

"No! Lucius, stop it! Stop it!" Narcissa shouted as struggled to get out of the chains that bound her.

"Oh don't worry, Cissy, you'll be next." giggled Bellatrix.

Draco's eyes opened in shock. No, they couldn't torture his mother! He was able to withstand the torture after many years of being subjected to it, but his mother…no she wouldn't be able to take it. He _wouldn't_ let his mother be tortured.

"No!" he shouted vehemently. "Don't torture her, please! Torture me instead."

"No, don't listen to him! I _deserve_ to be tortured. I betrayed the House of Black and the Malfoy clan. It's _me_ who should be tortured, not Draco." Narcissa said with conviction in her eyes.

"My my, isn't that sweet? Both of you are willing to be tortured to spare the other." Bellatrix cooed. "I'm almost convinced to let the two of you go."

"Crucio!" shouted Lucius again, this time pointing at his wife. Narcissa screamed in pain, her body contorting as she felt the power and pain of the curse for the first time.

Draco lost it, he had never been this angry in his entire life. "_NO! Stop it, stop hurting her!_" he shouted.

"What did you say, Draco? Hurt her more? Okay then, if you say so." Bellatrix said.

Lucius pointed his wand at Narcissa and tortured her once more. Draco couldn't take it anymore; he could not bear to hear his mother scream in pain like that. Tears started to fall from his face as he cried out, "Please, I'll do anything, _anything_ that you ask of me…just don't hurt my mother anymore. _Please_."

"Hmm…anything, you say?"

"Yes, I swear to Salazar himself! Just don't hurt her."

"I'll make you a little deal, Draco. I won't hurt both you and your mother if you agree to turn spy for us. Infiltrate the Order of the Phoenix and bring us news of their plans. In turn, I'll let you go."

Draco's eyes widened in shock. No, he couldn't possibly do that.  
"W-what? Turn spy? Are you crazy? The Order hates me, remember?"

"Ah, which is why you'll be needing this." Bellatrix said, flashing the potion she had taken from him. "Heal the mudblood and you'll be considered a hero. They'll think you've reformed, and let you in on their secret little gatherings and meetings. And when that happens, you'll tell us all about it." she said as she gave a little smirk.

"And if I don't do this?" he whispered.

"You and your mother die." she answered simply. "I'll make sure it'll be a slow and painful death for both of you. And you, Draco, you get to watch your mother die right in front of you."

Draco turned to look at Narcissa. Her head was bowed to the ground as she processed the deal Bellatrix was making her take. He'd never seen his mother look so helpless before.

"I'll do it." he said.

"Wonderful! Let's shake on it, shall we? Or better yet, how about we seal the deal with the Unbreakable Vow?" said Bellatrix as her eyes glinted with menace.

Draco's blood turned to ice. Break the vow, he dies. Refuse the deal, both him and his mother would die. There was no third option. He said from the start that he'd do it to save his mother, there was no going back on his word now.

Draco gritted his teeth and nodded his head in agreement, agreeing to the deal.

"Perfect! Lucius, you'll be our bonder?" she asked.

Lucius stepped forward. "Of course." he said, and proceeded to seal the agreement.

Bellatrix grabbed Draco's hands, and Lucius held his wand to their linked hands.

"Do you, Draco, promise to turn spy for the Dark Lord?"

"I do."

A thin tongue of brilliant flame issued from the wand and wound its way around their hands like a red-hot wire.

"Will you report to us about any plans you hear from the Order that might pertain to the Dark Lord?"

"I will.

"And do you, Draco, promise to fight for the Dark Side should it ever come to battle?"

"I promise."

The third blaze of flame shot out from the wand and twisted with the others, binding itself thickly around their clasped hands, like a rope, like a fiery snake.

Bellatrix dropped Draco's hand as soon as the flames ceased to glow, and handed him the potion and the unicorn hair.

"Better get going then, you've got a mudblood to cure and a mission to complete." she cackled.

Draco took one last glance at his mother, who was silently weeping as her only son had been forced to take the Unbreakable Vow, and Apparated back to the inn.

* * *

Hermione sat up when she heard Draco enter the room. "You're back, thank goodness! I thought something might've- Malfoy, what's wrong? You look terrible!" she said as she saw his face. It was the same expression she had after she was tortured.

"Nothing's wrong. Just got in a bit of a fight, but I'm fine. I managed to find you the cure." he said, his expression still grim.

"You did? Are you sure it's the right potion?" she asked dubiously.

"Yes, of course I'm sure!" he snapped at her.

"Are you okay? You're acting quite strange, you know."

Draco sat on her bed. "Nothing, I'm sorry. I'm just tired, you know." he sighed as he poured the potion into a cup and handed it to her.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, don't forget to add this!" Draco said as he pulled out the strand of unicorn tail and handed it to her as well.

"Uhm...do you mind if you add it? I...uhm...can't." Hermione said, looking down at her limp arm.

"What's wrong? Can't you move it?" Draco asked in horror.

Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes. "No, I can't. And I have no idea if it's permanent or not."

Draco added the unicorn hair in the potion for her. "Well, there's only one way to find out."

Hermione nodded and proceeded to drink the potion. It tasted horrible; the vile taste of the bezoar and murtlap essence nearly made her gag, but she managed to down the entire contents of the potion down.

The effect was immediate, her fever went down and her head stopped throbbing. Draco looked at her in anticipation. She tried to move her arm, but it stayed where it was.

"Hermione..." Draco whispered as Hermione was about to cry once more.

"Give it a bit of time, maybe it'll be better tomorrow." she said, trying to convince herself.

Then suddenly, _miraculously_, Hermione was able to move her finger. And then another. She was ecstatic, it was a small accomplishment, but it had such a monumental effect on her. With her other arm, she grab Draco's face and kissed him full on the lips.

Draco looked shocked, like he'd been electrocuted. Hermione clasped her hand on her mouth in horror. "Oh god, I'm so sorry Draco! I didn't mean to...I didn't mean to do that. I was just so excited that I was able to...I'm sorry." she stuttered.

Draco recovered from his initial shock. "It's, uhm, it's okay Granger. I understand. You just, uhm, got a little carried away. Nothing more. Let's just forget about it shall we?"

"Yes, let's do that. Uhm, I'm really quite tired...I think I'll go to sleep now." she said awkwardly, her voice two octaves higher than it normally was.

"Okay then. Goodnight, Granger." Draco said as he stood up from her bed and headed for the couch.

"Malfoy?" she said.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For finding the cure for me."

"Yeah, no problem."

Hermione lay in bed, still absolutely shocked at what she had done. What in the world possessed her to kiss Draco Malfoy? _Draco Malfoy_! She groaned inwardly, the look on his face when she'd kiss him; he was completely horrified! She was so embarrassed, she couldn't even talk straight afterwards, fumbling and stuttering for words. That was completely unlike her. But...but that kiss. It was electrifying, not like the ones she had with Krum or McLaggen; this was a completely different thing. It felt amazing, and she couldn't help but feel disappointed that Draco told her to forget it had ever happened.

What in Merlin's beard just happened, did Hermione Granger actually just _kiss_ him? Draco thought as he lay in the couch. Holy hell, Hermione Granger had just kissed him! He gave a little smile. It had been an amazing kiss too, not like the ones he had with Pansy. It was exciting and electrifying. He couldn't wait to do it again, except he'd just told her to forget it ever happened. Why in the world did he say that, that was so _stupid _of him; how could he possibly forget that had ever happened?! But then Draco pictured her reaction if she found out about the deal she made with Bellatrix. How horrified and disgusted she'd be when she finds out about how he used her to get into the Order and tell the Death Eaters about all their plans. Draco groaned inwardly, what a gigantic mess he'd gotten himself into.

* * *

**There you go, hope you liked it! :)**

**Oh, and sorry boothaddict77... I had to make them make an Unbreakable Vow. Haha! And thank you for pointing out the error I made in the previous chapter. :)**

**Don't forget to review! Thank youu.**


	14. Chapter 14: Winter Wonderland

**Hi everyone! Thanks for all the new followers, favorites, and of course the reviews! Loved every single one of them! 3**

**Thanks for everyone's suggestions, I'll definitely keep them to mind but all will be revealed soon! Hehehe :) Hope you guys like this next chapter.**

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**Chapter Fourteen: Winter Wonderland**

Draco dreamt about Hermione that night. They were outside, sitting on top of a hill and glancing up at the stars above. His arms were wrapped around her protectively as she leaned back onto his strong chest. He could smell the vanilla scented shampoo that she used, and noticed how perfectly she fit in his arms. He leaned forward, planted a soft kiss on her forehead and smiled. This was bliss…this was what happiness felt like.

Suddenly the scene changed. Hermione was standing in front of him, looking completely distressed.

_"You're a spy? How could you, Draco? I trusted you!"_

_"Hermione…I had no choice. She was going to kill my mum! I couldn't let her kill my mother." he reasoned out._

_"So instead you used me? I can't believe it…I actually thought you changed. I thought that this was actually real, that we were real." she said as tears fell from her face._

_"It was! Believe me, Hermione, it was! I've changed. Please believe me…" he pleaded._

_Hermione shook her head sadly. "Goodbye, Draco." she whispered and left him, feeling completely and utterly lost and alone._

Draco woke up in a cold sweat. The dream felt so incredibly real. He could still smell the faint scent of Hermione's vanilla scented shampoo; he could still remember how tiny she felt in his arms and how hurt he was when she told him goodbye. He closed his eyes in a grimace; damn Bellatrix and her stupid little mission! Damn her and her Unbreakable Vow! Once again his relatives ruined his one shot for freedom and happiness. Ruined his shot with the one person he'd actually respected at Hogwarts. Damn. Now he had to distance himself from Hermione, the one person whom he might actually like. The more cold and distant he was, the less hurt she'll be in the end.

Hermione woke up and immediately tried to move her arm in hopes that the potion had countered the effects of the poison. The feeling had spread up to her wrist. She was disappointed; she'd be no use in a battle if she could only move one arm. But still, progress was progress, and she was relieved that the effects of the poison weren't irreversible. She glanced over at Draco, and was surprised to see that he was awake.

"Oh, you're up. Good morning!" she smiled at him, but Draco merely nodded in reply.

Hermione's smile vanished. Merlin, was he mad at her for what had happened yesterday? "Look, Draco…what happened yesterday…I'm really sorry, okay?"

"It's fine, Granger. It's done. Let's just forget about it, alright?"

Hermione sighed. So they were back to last names, were they? She wondered why Draco was suddenly back to his cold and formal self. She was a bit let down; she had thought that his kindness had been a permanent change. Oh well, she thought, she'd be back with Harry and Ron soon enough.

"Malfoy?" said Hermione.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going out today, to explore the village. I've been cooped up here for too long, and I think that a little fresh air would do me good."

"Don't be stupid, it's freezing out there. You'll catch a cold ." he sneered.

"I'm not being stupid! If I have to stay in here for another day, I think I'd lose it. I _need_ to get out of here, Malfoy."

Draco rolled his eyes. _Stubborn girl_. "I really can't convince you otherwise, can I?"

"No you can't." she said firmly.

Draco sighed. "Fine, but I'm going with you."

"What? No you're not!" Hermione replied, getting irritated. There he was again, didn't he understand that she didn't need to be watched over? She wasn't a child, for goodness sake!

"Yes I am. Potter and Weasel would kill me if I let something happen to you, and as much as I fancy a fight with them, the odds aren't exactly in my favor at two to one."

Hermione groaned. "I'm not going to be able to convince you otherwise, am I?"

"No, no you can't." he replied smugly.

"Arggh. Fine, then!" Hermione said in resignation, and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

She dressed in the clothes that Florean had brought her the previous day. She loved the gorgeous emerald green sweater that he lent her, it contrasted her auburn hair so perfectly. Draco stared with his mouth open when she walked out of the bathroom.

"What?" she asked, noticing his expression.

"N-nothing. You look nice." he said.

"Oh…thanks. Florean lent it to me, I think it was his late wife's." she replied. Draco nodded and went to the bathroom to take his shower, leaving Hermione to get ready.

It was her turn to be caught completely off guard when Draco stepped out of the bathroom. He was half-naked, his skin as white and as smooth as porcelain, while his chest looked chiseled and his abdomen rock hard. Since when did Malfoy get so lean and muscular? Hermione wondered as she stared at his body.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to stare?" Draco said, completely unfazed by her reaction. Hermione's cheeks reddened and she immediately looked away, causing Draco to smirk a bit.

They went out without another word and explored the village. Draco's cold demeanor slowly vanished, and Hermione found herself enjoying his company. He pointed out his old childhood haunts, telling her stories of how he would spend hours outside of the inn and just exploring the village like they were doing now. He showed her his favorite place, a spot on top of the hill which overlooked the village.

"It's so pretty. Everything's just covered in snow." Hermione sighed as she and Draco sat at the top of the hill.

"Yeah. I would've loved to live here. If I weren't a wizard, I mean." he said as he stared at the village longingly.

"Do you really hate being a wizard that bad?" she asked him.

"No, not really. I love magic. It's just...everyone judges me because of the people I'm associated with. I can't go anywhere in the Wizarding World without being looked at with disgust for what my family's done. For what _I've_ done." Draco said with regret in his eyes.

"It's not your fault, Malfoy. You were _coerced_ into to doing those things!"

"Exactly. Just once in my life I'd want to be free to make my own choices. I want to be free to choose which side I want to fight for. I don't want other people to decide who I am. But that's exactly what's happened. All my life my parents have dictated what I have to do. All my life I've been expected to be this person whom I don't want to be. I'm just so sick of it, Granger! I'm sick of being treated like the bad guy."

Hermione felt saw the pain and regret in his eyes, and felt the need to comfort him. She put her hand on his arm and said, "You're _not_ a bad guy, Malfoy. If you just show people this side of you, I'm sure they'll see you for who you truly are. I'm sure they'll understand."

Draco scoffed. "They'd sooner give up their wands than accept a Death Eater into their midst."

"Don't say that, look, you've taken care of me remarkably these past few days. You saved me from Bellatrix, even if meant going against your own family. Once people see that, they'll see how much you've changed." she urged.

Draco frowned, suddenly lost in his own thoughts. That was _exactly_ what Bellatrix wanted to happen. He suddenly remembered his dream, and how distraught Hermione was when she found out about his mission. He couldn't bear to see the look in her eyes when she finds out about it. He didn't want to be the cause of her pain, not again. He'd hurt her a million times at school for calling her a mud blood, he didn't want to hurt her again. Suddenly, he felt Hermione shiver beside him, and Draco remembered that she was still weak from the fever and torture.

"Come on, let's go someplace warm." he said as he offered his hand to Hermione and pulled her up.

They went to a cozy little tea shop in the village. The shopkeeper greeted them with such warmth and kindness that made Hermione feel right at home. Draco went to order and came back holding a tray with two cups of tea and some buttered croissants.

"Uhm, how exactly did you pay for that? You didn't Imperio the shopkeeper, did you?"

"Do you really think that low of me?" Draco said, looking hurt.

Hermione started to stammer out an apology when Draco interrupted, "Relax, Granger, it was a joke! You should've seen your face though. Absolutely hilarious!" he chuckled.

"You _bastard_! You made me feel so terrible about what I said!" she laughed as she made a move to hit him, but Draco dodged her effortlessly.

"Uh-uh. You're not repeating what you did in our third year, _Beaver_." he said.

"Well you asked for it, _Ferret_!" she laughed. "So how exactly did you pay for all this?"

"Well I came to Deepwater Inn quite often, and I hated imposing myself on Florean. His inn was relatively new, and there weren't that many customers yet, so I made Rita, our house-elf, take some gold out of my vault at Gringotts and exchange it to Muggle currency. I gave the lot to Florean as a sort of payment for taking care of me, but he didn't accept it. He set it aside for me instead, in case of emergencies. I guess this would count as an emergency." he explained.

"Florean's really like a father to you, isn't he?" Hermione remarked.

"He's as good as. How about you, what about your parents?" he asked.

Hermione looked surprised by his question. "Don't look at me like that, I've told you more things about me in the past few days than I've ever told Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini or Parkinson in all my years at Hogwarts. I think it's your turn to tell me something about yourself." Draco said when he saw the shock at Hermione's face.

"I'm sorry, I was just taken aback, that's all." Hermione said. It was true, she never imagined Draco Malfoy to ever be interested about her muggle parents, but he seemed genuinely concerned. "I love my parents. They were incredibly supportive to me, about me being a witch and going to Hogwarts to all that. They didn't like sending me to a school that was so far away, but they did it anyways since Dumbledore assured them I'd be receiving good education at Hogwarts. They've always wanted what's best for me." she smiled at the memory.

"They sound nice. What do they do?"

"They were dentists. They, um, fix people's teeth."

"Oh. That's interesting. No wonder your teeth were huge." Draco teased.

"Hey! My teeth are perfectly normal-sized now, thank you very much." Hermione said.

"Yeah, after I cursed you in our fourth year and you got Madam Pomfrey to fix it for you."

Hermione laughed. "I guess you did me a favor, then."

"You're welcome." Draco winked. "So what do your parents think about you skipping school this year? Or do they not know?"

Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "Actually, they don't even know I exist. I charmed them to forget about me. It was too dangerous, you see. I was afraid that the Death Eaters would come after them because of me. So I obliviated them and made them move to Australia. They have no idea they have a daughter."

Draco was stunned. He never really considered the dangers muggle-borns experienced in the Dark Lord's new regime. He reached out and took Hermione's hand, as the latter silently grieved for her parents. "Hey, it's going to be alright. Your parents are safe, and that's what matters."

"Yes, that's true. I'm sorry, I'm just tired of being the strong one all the time. Ron was always the temperamental one, and Harry was busy recklessly saving everyone, so I was left to be the strong one. The rational one. It just gets tiring sometimes."

Draco sighed. "I know what you mean. That's the hard thing about it, you're so busy being strong for everyone that no one notices when you're falling apart."

The two fell silent, and proceeded to finish their meals. Afterwards, they left the shop and went outside. Hermione was surprised; it had started to snow, and everything looked amazing, like a winter wonderland. She suddenly thought of those snow globes that her mother collected. She had admired them a lot when she was a kid, the tiny village and white glitter that swirled around when she shook the globe. But this was about a hundred times better, everything looked magnificent, and Hermione couldn't resist to twirl around with her mouth open, letting the snowflakes melt on her tongue.

Draco stared at Hermione, who was clearly enjoying the snow. He'd never seen her look so beautiful before, snow resting on her curly brown hair as she was twirled and laughed like a little girl. He couldn't help but give a huge smile.

Hermione turned to look at him. "Why don't you smile like that more often? It suits you, you know."

"I dunno, I guess I just haven't had any reason to smile." He shrugged.

"Well I'm telling you that you should smile. Makes you look about a hundred times better." she said as she moved towards him.

"What if I don't want to?" Draco said as he walked closer to her.

"Do it for me? Please?" Hermione fake-pouted.

Draco smiled again. "Hmm..I'll think about it."

"Okay." she smiled. Their faces were mere inches apart from each other. Draco could count the number of snowflakes that had rested on her long auburn lashes. She stared into his beautiful silver eyes, then down to his lips. He tucked her hair behind her ears. They moved closer still, merely inches away from each other...then _splat_! A snowball hit Draco directly at the back of his head. The two broke out of their trance, and Hermione glanced around to see who threw the snowball.

"I know you're there! You can't hide from me!" Draco shouted as he scooped a bit of snow and shaped it into a ball.

Hermione heard the sound of a little girl's giggle behind a tree. Draco put a finger to his lips as he moved silently towards the giggling noise. A little girl peeked from behind the tree and Draco threw the snowball at her. "Aha, gotcha Eloise!" he shouted triumphantly.

"No you didn't!" the girl laughed as she ran off towards the opposite direction. Draco ran after her, quickly catching up in a few strides, grabbed the girl by her waist and tickled her. "Gotcha!" He laughed as the little girl squealed and giggled.

Hermione stood by and watched the two of them; the little girl's hair was golden blonde, and although Draco's was white blond, the two of them could easily have passed as siblings. Hermione smiled, she'd never seen him look so handsome, laughing and playing with the little girl whom he treated like a sister.

"Draco, is that your giiiiirlfriend?" the little girl teased as Draco put her down.

"Oh that's my friend, Hermione!" he said. "Hermione meet Eloise, Florean's daughter. Eloise, meet my friend, Hermione."

"So you're not his giiiiirlfriend?" she asked.

Hermione felt her cheeks redden. "No, no I'm not." she answered.

"Then why did you two look like you were gonna kiss?" Eloise said smugly.

"Alright, that's enough questions from you, Eloise. Why don't we head back to the inn?" Draco interrupted.

"But I wanna stay here and play!" Eloise pouted.

"Another time, maybe. We've been out for too long, I don't you or Hermione to catch a cold."

"Because she's your giiiiirlfriend?"

Draco looked at Hermione. "She's...a friend, alright? Now stop asking too many questions, for all I know you'll be asking me where babies come from next."

"Father already told me about that one." Eloise said as she made a face, causing both Draco and Hermione to laugh.

"Well thank goodness, I didn't want to have the talk with you." Draco said.

"Eww!" said Eloise, scrunching up her nose. "I agree, I think we should go now."

The three of them made their way back to the inn. Eloise took hold of Hermione's right hand while walking. Draco smiled at the sight; Eloise seemed to have taken a liking to Hermione, and was acting like her own personal tour guide. They reached the inn soon enough, and Draco knew that Hermione was secretly glad. Eloise was relentless, and Hermione looked quite weary from having to keep up with the young girl's energy.

"There you are, little miss! You've been gone for quite a while, I told you that you could only stay outside for a few minutes." Florean said when he saw his daughter.

Eloise grinned sheepishly and ran to hug him. "Sorry daddy, I ran into Draco and Hermione and I kind of forgot the time."

"Well I hope this little one wasn't that much of a bother to you two. Although I must say, you look quite tired Hermione. Did Eloise wear you out?" Florean asked worriedly.

"Oh no, nothing like that. I guess I'm still a bit weak from everything. My strength has yet to come back to me." Hermione replied.

"Alright then, you should probably go get some rest. Don't want you feeling weak now, do we?"

"Yes, I suppose so. I'll head off to bed now."

"Goodnight Hermione!" Eloise said and gave her a hug.

"Goodnight, Eloise. Thanks for the tour." Hermione hugged her back.

"Hey, don't I deserve a goodnight hug?" Draco interrupted.

"Fiiine, as long as you promise never to give me the talk." Eloise said as she hugged Draco.

Draco laughed and agreed. "Goodnight, little one." he said and kissed her on the forehead.

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**There you go! :) Don't forget to leave a review, please! Hehe.**


	15. Chapter 15: Conflicted Feelings

**Hey everyone! Again, thanks for all the new follows, favorites and reviews! :) I read every single one of them, and it really motivates me to write faster, so keep on reviewing okay? :) Let me know if you have any suggestions on some future scenes or anything like that. **

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**Chapter Fifteen: Conflicted Feelings**

Draco sat silently on the couch while Hermione brushed her teeth in the bathroom. What in Merlin's name was he doing?! He was supposed to be acting all cold and distant towards Hermione, instead what did he do? He bloody spent the day with her; giving her a tour of the village, opening up to her and asking her all about her parents. That was the exact _opposite_ of his plan! Hermione was right; he didn't have to accompany her to the village. But he insisted, and made some lame excuse about not wanting Potter and Weasley to kill him for not watching over her properly. He scoffed, like he cared about what those two thought! No, if he were to be completely honest with himself he'd admit that he really did want to go with her, to spend time with her…and then he almost kissed her. Merlin, he couldn't help himself, she just looked so bloody beautiful, so pure and good. She was everything he wanted, everything he tried to be. But _no_, this couldn't happen again. He had to distance himself from Hermione if he didn't want her to get hurt in the end. He cared about her too much now to see her get hurt by him.

Hermione left the bathroom, intending to talk to Draco about what happened between them today.

"Draco?" she called out, but he was gone. Somehow Hermione knew that he wasn't coming back anytime soon. Not in the next few hours, anyways. Ugh, that was so _Slytherin _of him! To act all sweet and romantic, then leave when it got a bit too real. To leave when he knew that she would've wanted to talk about it.

It infuriated her; what had happened between them? They'd connected on some emotional level, something Hermione never expected to happen. This changed things between them; she didn't just see him as the man who saved her...no. Draco Malfoy was more than that now. He was her friend, her confidante.

Merlin, if someone had told her a month ago that she would end up considering Draco Malfoy as her friend she would've laughed and told them that they needed to check themselves in at St. Mungo's immediately. It was preposterous! _Draco Malfoy_, her friend? No, they were probably even more than that, seeing as she actually _kissed_ him! And today, the way he was acting towards her...it was just so sweet and romantic. And the way he looked at her when they were outside the tea shop...it was unnerving. His gaze was completely smoldering, his silver eyes stared back at hers as if they were trying to look right into the depths of her soul. It caused tingles at the back of Hermione's neck. He was about to kiss her, and what's worse was that Hermione was actually going to let him do it.

But _why_? Why in Merlin's name would Malfoy do that? Did he actually have feelings for her, or was he simply playing her to see how far he could get with the Gryffindor Princess. Yes, that was probably it. Draco Malfoy was playing with her, faking everything so that Hermione would fall for him. And when she did, he'd probably laugh and tell her how stupid she was. He'd gloat on how he was able to deceive the cleverest witch of their age. Ugh, she groaned. What had happened to her resolve? What happened to the pragmatic, level-headed Hermione Granger? She was proud of being known as the smart one, the rational one, but somehow all of those traits went out the window when Draco Malfoy was concerned. It was as if she didn't recognize herself anymore. Bloody hell, what would Harry and Ron say? How would they react when they found out that their best friend was not only fraternizing with the enemy, but actually even thought of getting involved him romantically? How could she, Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter and brains of the Golden Trio fall for the tricks Draco Malfoy, the Death Eater, Prince of Slytherin? She couldn't believe how stupid and naïve she'd been.

But that didn't change how Hermione felt when she was around Draco. She felt safe and secure; she knew that somehow he'd be able to protect her from anything. She felt comfortable around him, almost as if they've known each other for ages. She understood him, _the real him_, the Draco Malfoy he'd kept hidden from everyone all these years. And what scared her most was that she might actually be willing to forget his past, all the horrible things he's done, and give him a second chance.

* * *

Draco left the room, knowing that Hermione would probably want to talk about what happened between them. Bloody _Gryffindor_ of her to do so. He had no idea where he was going, he'd probably just take a walk outside to clear his mind and set his priorities straight. He left the inn and started wandering about the village.

He needed to sort out his priorities; this was _war_, for bloody Merlin's sake! There was no time for emotions or feelings that would just hinder him from achieving his goals. A relationship was the last thing he needed right now, seeing as those could be used to his disadvantage. Bellatrix had already used his relationship with his mother as leverage to get what she wanted: information about the plans of the Order of the Phoenix. Draco had to be practical about this; the only way he and his mother would survive was if he did exactly what Bellatrix asked of him. He would join the Order of the Phoenix, find out about their plans, and report them back to his aunt. Hermione had more or less promised to take him in the Order when she told him that the others would accept him as soon as they see what he's done for her. But he'd have to try to accomplish his mission without hurting Hermione too much. He'd simply have to isolate himself from her, to make sure that they were nothing more than allies. He'd have to limit his contact with the Order as well; the less he was with them, the less information he'd be able to hear, and the less betrayed Hermione would feel when she found out about his mission. Technically it didn't go against his Unbreakable Vow; the vow only stated that he report back all he heard from the Order. He could still control the things he would hear from the Order by limiting his meetings with them. He could simply reason out that the Order hadn't seen fit to trust him fully yet, and that he was not privy to all the information of the association. That would make perfect sense. It was a believable plan, which would enable Draco to fulfill all that was asked of him without too much casualties in the process. None would be the wiser.

Without noticing where his feet had taken him, Draco suddenly realized that he was standing in the middle of the village graveyard. He'd never actually been in this part of the village before; graveyards scared the living daylights out of him and Draco purposely avoided the place every time he visited Deepwater Inn.

"Draco?" a voice called out, startling Draco.

Draco, who had his wand at the ready, relaxed when he saw that it was Florean who had called out to him. He quickly hid his wand back in his jacket. "Florean! You scared the shit out of me!"

Florean chuckled. "So sorry, dear boy. To be fair, you frightened me as well. I wasn't expecting to see anyone here at this time of night."

"I was just taking a long walk to clear my mind, that's all."

"And what does it need to be cleared of?" Florean inquired.

"Nothing of importance." Draco shrugged nonchalantly. "What are you doing here, anyways?" he asked.

"Visiting my wife. It's been a practice for me to come out here and just sort of visit her whenever I get lonely."

Draco was taken aback; Florean had never mentioned that his wife had been buried here in this village. "Her name was Margaretta, right? What was she like?" he asked as the two of them walked back to the inn together.

"Ah, she was extraordinary, my Margaretta. So full of life. She was independent and strong-willed, a lioness if you were to describe her. She had a tongue that could lash out and hurl numerous insults at you. My little lioness. But she was kind. Unbelievably kind. She had the ability to see the good in everyone, even if it seemed like they were nothing but bad. We didn't exactly start of as lovers, you know. She hated me; loathed me, even. I was a sort of black sheep back then, mixing with the wrong crowd and whatnot. I was a bit of a rebel, and Margaretta hated that. But one night everything changed. She was on her way home when she encountered a group of teenage rebels just like me. They stalked her, eager to have their way with her. And they would've done so too, if it hadn't been for me. I was just passing along the other side of the road, when I saw her. I didn't know why, but I felt compelled to rescue her. Beat those two guys up, took her in my arms and comforted her. And from that moment on we were inseparable. I tried to fight our connection, God only knew how her parents would react if they found out about our relationship. They'd probably kick her out; shun her publicly for getting involved with the likes of me. I resisted her, tried to distance myself from her so that she wouldn't be shunned. But she was relentless, chased after me and everything. Until one day I realized that I loved her. I realized how much I loved her and how I couldn't spend my life without her. And that's when I changed myself. I became a better man, all because of her. Margaretta changed me, and I've loved her every single day for it. I still do." Florean stated.

Draco was silent. He realized how uncannily similar his situation was from Florean's. Except for the ending, of course. "Well, you're lucky you got your happy ending. Not everyone's as lucky as you." he said bitterly.

"What do you mean, Draco?"

"Nothing, I just…not everyone can have their happy ever after." he sighed.

"Is this about Hermione?" Florean guessed.

"What? No!" Draco said, his cheeks turning red.

"You never could lie to me, boy. You love her, don't you?"

"What? No, I don't!" he spluttered.

"But you care for her?"

Draco sighed. It was useless trying to lie to Florean. The man knew him better than his own father did. "I do." he nodded.

"Then what's stopping you from being with her?"

"You don't understand, Florean. Our situation is…difficult. The people we're associated with, well you know how cruel they can be. And I'm just as cruel as them. I'll only end up hurting her in the end."

"You sound just like me when I was your age. Give love a chance, Draco." Florean smiled.

"No, our situation is completely different Florean! Lives are at stake here. Mine, my mother's…there's just too much repercussions. I can't love her. _I won't_. It just can't happen between us, don't you understand?!" Draco said and stormed into the inn.

"Ah, but it already has, hasn't it?" Florean whispered to himself.

* * *

Draco went back to the room after his long walk outside, expecting Hermione to be asleep. Instead he was greeted by her slapping him repeatedly on his arm.

"Where have you been?!" she cried out.

"Bloody hell, woman! Do you enjoy scaring me like that?!"

"You've been gone for _hours_! For all I know the Death Eaters got you."

"Well they didn't, okay? Calm down, everything's fine!"

"Everything's not bloody fine! Don't you ever make me worry like that again!"

"You were worried about me?" Draco said, giving a tiny smile.

"Well, yeah, I mean...I wouldn't want anything terrible happening to you." Hermione answered rather awkwardly, which Draco found endearing.

Warning bells immediately started ringing in his head. "No. No!" A voice inside his head shouted at him. "This is exactly why you've got to distance yourself from her, Draco! She shouldn't be caring for you, you've got to stop this!" it shouted at him.

"You don't need to worry about me, I'm not a child. I can take care of myself!" he sneered at Hermione, who was taken aback by the sudden change in his demeanor.

"Fine. Fine! If that's what you want, I won't bother you anymore!" she fumed.

"Fine. Great! It's bloody irritating, you know. Makes you look more like a bloody beaver."

Hermione shot daggers at him. "Arggh! You ruin _everything_, Draco Malfoy!" she shouted as she hit him once more.

"Hit me one more time, I swear to Salazar I'll hex your arm off." he warned, gripping her wrist.

"You incorrigible prat! Let go of me!"

Draco did, and Hermione immediately retreated. "As soon as I'm fully healed, we're leaving. I'm taking you to the Order, where they'll hide you from the other Death Eaters. I wouldn't want to spend another minute with you alone more than I have to!"

"Fine with me!" Draco shouted.

"Fine."

"_Fine._"

Hermione stormed off to her bed. How dare him! That odious bastard! How could she actually think that he had changed? He was still nothing but the barmy git he was at Hogwarts. Tears fell from her eyes as she cried silently. She couldn't believe she actually considered giving him a second chance. How idiotic of her! She was so stupid, so naive! She always willed herself to see the good in everyone, but there was nothing good about Draco Malfoy. He was completely irredeemable, a selfish bastard.

Draco sighed as he lay on the couch, unable to sleep. Hermione was furious with her, he knew, and Draco hated it. He didn't want her to think of him as the insensitive git he was when they were at Hogwarts together. But he had no choice, she was better off mad at him that be immensely hurt when she found out that he betrayed her trust. It was better this way, he kept telling himself. But it didn't stop him from feeling so terrible. Tears fell from his eyes; he was sick of forever playing the bad guy! For once in his life he wanted to be the hero of the story, not the villain. He wanted to end up with the girl, not be despised by her. But he was Draco Malfoy, and that was his curse. His destiny.


	16. Chapter 16: Redemption

**Hey! Really enjoyed writing this chapter, I hope you guys like it as well. :) **

**As always, thanks for the new follows, favorites and reviews. Really motivated me to keep on writing! :)**

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**Chapter Sixteen: Redemption**

Hermione's foul mood lasted for a couple of days. She refused to speak to Draco directly, instead communicated with him through dirty looks and pointed silences. Florean had noticed the change in the young woman's demeanor when he brought breakfast for the two of them. Rather than reprimanding her gently for her foul mood, Florean seemed quite amused by it. "Just as stubborn as my Margaretta was" he chuckled, whispering to Draco.

Draco was initially hurt by Hermione's refusal to talk with him. He badly wanted to show her that he wasn't the bad guy she thought he was, but he sighed and allowed her to continue shutting him out anyways. Great, he thought. Let her be angry with me; let her hate me enough to walk away from me. That way she'd be safe from the evil Death Eater that I am. That way I wouldn't be able to hurt her. Draco refused to be the one to break the silence between them, acting as stubborn as she was. He spent his time practicing defensive spells and jinxes instead; with the prospect of war looming over all of them, Draco trained hard. He didn't want to be caught unprepared for battle.

His practicing of magic had infuriated Hermione further. She felt so frustrated, knowing that she couldn't practice magic for although the numbness in her arm had completely disappeared by now, it still felt undeniably weak and slow, as if she had slept on it. She still had to do some minor exercises to strengthen it before she could move on to spell work. And _Merlin_, did those exercises hurt! Hermione made it a point to do them while Draco was in the shower or out of the room; she didn't want him seeing her cry out in pain as she tried lifting simple objects such as books or plates.

Hermione was even more irked by the fact that Draco was unbelievably gifted with spell work. Although he was one of the best in their year at Hogwarts, second only to her of course, she had refused to believe it when teachers praised him for his talent; instead saying how the professors were merely blackmailed into praising him by Lucius Malfoy. But seeing him now, performing numerous complex spells and enchantments, Hermione couldn't deny that Draco Malfoy was indeed a prodigiously talented wizard and was obviously well-trained by his father and aunt.

She watched him as he cast non-verbal spells flawlessly, seeming arrogantly bored as he did so. Hermione gazed with wonder at Draco. Casting non-verbal spells were especially tricky, and she had only ever seen one other person cast non-verbal spells so effortlessly: Professor Snape. Hermione was impressed; that was definitely further testament of Draco's skills. Unfortunately, her look of amazement had not gone unnoticed by Draco, and he gave her one of his annoying little smirks.

Hermione was irritated; she cast him a murderous look before glancing away. He was a complete arse, showing off in front of her when he knew that she was dying to perform magic herself. Thankfully, Draco seemed to get the message and stopped practicing spell work immediately. He grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom for a shower.

Hermione instantly started with her arm exercises, stretching her arm out slowly to warm it up. She winced in pain; it scared her how much strength she lost in her arm in just less than a week. But still, she considered herself lucky for not losing her arm, or her life, for that matter. Besides, she was regaining the strength back in her arm, albeit slowly. She managed to pick up a small book and lift it over her head without crying out in pain. Hermione felt motivated, she picked up a heavier book and tried to lift it up. _"Yes!"_ she shouted gleefully in her head. This was definitely progress; a few more days and she'll be back to casting charms and defensive spells with her wand. Maybe even have a mock duel with Malfoy to see the humiliation in his face when she won. To get back at him for playing her and thinking her to be stupid enough to fall for his tricks.

She almost did, didn't she? And that's what made her so angry. Hermione had been acting for days about how much she hated Malfoy. But the truth was, she wasn't sure that she did. Honestly, she was angry at herself instead. For letting him get in her head and charm his way into letting her think that he had changed. She was mad at herself for being so naïve and gullible, for thinking that the Death Eater could actually be redeemed. The fact that Draco Malfoy made her hate herself made her hate him, if that made any sense at all. And that was it, really. When Draco Malfoy was around it was as if she couldn't think at all…like her mind stopped working whenever he was present. She became completely nonsensical when she was around him; she definitely had to get better soon so that they could find the other members of the Order and she could be rid of him once and for all.

Hermione spied the glass pitcher on the kitchen table. Her mind started wondering, would she be able to lift it? She was able to lift the heavy book today, why not the half-empty glass pitcher? It would be a challenge, but Hermione always loved challenges. Besides, the only way to get better quicker was to work harder at her arm strengthening exercises, right? she reasoned out to herself. So Hermione picked up the jug with her hand and slowly tried to lift it over her head. She made if halfway through, when her arm gave way and the glass pitcher fell over her foot, shattering into pieces. Hermione howled in pain, glancing as the broken shards of glass pierced through her skin.

"Owwww!" she moaned, bending down to clutch her foot, her eyes swimming with tears.

"What the hell are you doing, Granger? Damn it, I can't even take a bloody shower without you getting hurt!" Draco shouted as he stepped out of the bathroom, his hair sopping wet and only a towel wrapped around his waist.

Merlin, he looked so bloody _handsome._

Draco gave a short laugh, taken aback. "Thanks, Granger, but that doesn't explain why you broke the jug over your foot. How could you be so bloody stupid?"

Hermione's eyes widened and her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. Godric Gryffindor, did she actually say that out loud?! She groaned.

"It's not my fault okay! It wasn't as if I did it on purpose!" she grumbled, wincing in pain as she touched the cuts the glass made on her foot.

"Those cuts look deep, Hermione. Here, let me." Draco said, gently pressing the edge of his towel on her foot to stop the bleeding.

The pair locked eyes; chocolate brown met silver mercurial ones. There was tension in the air. Draco quickly looked away and stood up, grabbing his wand.

He cast a quick non-verbal spell, and the cuts on Hermione's foot closed up immediately.

"Y-you can perform healing magic?" Hermione asked, astounded at what Draco had done.

"Well, yeah. Basic ones, anyways. Just in healing minor cuts and wounds." he muttered.

"But...that's uncommonly rare, Draco. Healing magic never manifests itself in wizards or witches at this age. Since when have you been able to do perform such magic?" she asked, completely interested.

"Since my father decided that the Cruciatus Curse wasn't enough anymore and started beating me up physically. So, during third year, I guess." he answered darkly, the hurt reflected in his eyes.

"Oh." was all Hermione could say.

Draco helped her up and went back in the bathroom without another word.

Hermione felt dazed. Draco Malfoy confused her endlessly. One minute he could be the most irritating person on the planet, winding her up and criticizing her; then the next moment he could be surprisingly gentle and sweet. It was almost as if he were two separate people. The sensitive and protective one versus the snarky and evil one. Good versus bad. Light versus dark. Hermione could actually _feel_ the conflicting feelings inside him; she could see how Draco tried to fight his inner demons, how he desperately wanted to change for the better. But his demons usually won out, almost as if the good in him had no choice of winning in the first place. And she saw how miserable and conflicted that made him. She felt sorry for him, she couldn't help it. He hadn't been given much of a choice from the start. His father had instilled the values and beliefs of the Dark Lord in him since he was a little boy, and she ventured to guess that he had more of less been coerced into taking the Dark Mark and into murdering Dumbledore, with the consequence of the deaths of his parents if he refused to do so. Slowly Hermione began to understand Draco Malfoy. He acted like a bully so that no one would see how truly sensitive he was, he pushed people away so that he wouldn't get hurt when they left. He tormented Harry all these years because he was envious that he was able to choose which side he was in, from the moment he had refused Malfoy's friendship and he had bullied Hermione of her heritage because he was secretly jealous of her anonymity as a muggle. Yes, Hermione had finally understood the enigma that was Draco Malfoy. After all these years of people claiming to know the real Draco, it was finally the girl he had pretended to hate, the Gryffindor Mudblood, who had finally cracked his hard shell and understood the real him.

All the thinking had finally wore Hermione out, and she went back to bed to take a nap. But even then, her dreams bothered her. She was back at Malfoy Manor, with the Death Eaters laughing and jeering at her. She stared at their faces, looking for the familiar blonde haired wizard. There he was, standing right behind her, his wand pointed right at her face.

_"Draco...save me, please." she whispered._

_Draco stood still for a while, and finally joined the Death Eaters in their laughter. "Save you? Why would I do that, you filthy little mudblood." he spat in her face._

_"No. Draco, no! Please..." she begged._

_"Crucio!"_

_Hermione screamed in agony. Oh, Godric save her! Millions of knives tore at her skin, making her convulse horribly in pain._

_"Draco! Save me, please!" she cried. But as she stared at the figure standing in front of her, she knew that this wasn't the Draco she knew. This was the demon inside of him, the evil acting out._

_"Crucio!" he roared._

_"AHHHHHHH!" Hermione screamed again, crying out in pain._

_Suddenly another voice echoed through the darkness "Granger! Wake up! It's just a dream, wake up!"_

_Hermione tried to focus on the voice, but it was too far away. The other Draco grabbed her by her collar and threw her to Bellatrix Lestrange's feet. Bellatrix had her knife out, ready to pierce through her skin. She leered at her maniacally and grabbed her arm. Hermione squirmed and tried to escape the evil witch's clutches, but she was too weak from the torture from the other Draco to fight properly._

_"AHHHHHHH!" she screamed and shut her eyes tight as Bellatrix carved the dreaded word into her arm._

_"Hermione, wake up! Come back, Hermione! Come back to me..." it echoed, the voice sounded louder than before._

Suddenly Hermione opened her eyes. She was back in her room, and Draco was clutching her shoulders, shaking her awake.

"M-malfoy?" she said.

"Thank Merlin...I thought you wouldn't wake up, Granger!" Draco's concerned face loomed over hers.

"You were hurting me, Draco. You cast the Cruciatus Curse on me." she whispered in fear.

Draco wiped the tears from her face, apparently she had been crying in her sleep. "I wouldn't hurt you like that, Hermione. I swear." he promised.

"It hurt so much." Hermione sobbed as Draco pulled her in for a hug.

"Shhh...don't think about it anymore." Draco murmured as he stroked her back comfortingly.

It took a while for Hermione's crying to abate, and by that time Draco's shirt had been fully drenched in her tears.

"Oh god, I'm sorry." Hermione said as she wiped the tears from her face.

"Don't worry about it."

"Malfoy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you save me?"

Draco was taken aback, that was definitely not the question he was expecting from her right now. "What?" he asked in disbelief.

"Why did you save me from Bellatrix? You could've let her torture me, but instead you defied your own family and saved me. Why?"

He hesitated, how exactly could he explain it to her when he couldn't even explain it to himself? "I guess…well, no one was there to save me when I was tortured. No one bothered to stop my father from hurting me, and that changed me as a person, destroyed my humanity. And I didn't want that to happen to you, Hermione. You're just so good, so full of light. I didn't want to see you get destroyed like I was. All my life I've been nothing but bad. I've been nothing but worthless, and I thought that maybe, if I saved you, maybe my life wouldn't have been for nothing. Maybe I could be redeemed."

Hermione stared at the man sitting right in front of her. He was broken, so beautifully broken. "I don't think you're irredeemable. I think you're a good person who's merely made bad choices." she said as she moved closer to Draco, her face inches away from his.

"No. Don't do this, Hermione. I'm not the type of person you want. I'm not the type of person you deserve." he whispered, turning his face away.

"And what type of person do I deserve?" she asked.

"I don't know...Potter or the Weasel, maybe. Someone good, someone who hasn't been associated with the Dark Side. Someone who hasn't done what I have. You deserve someone better than me." Draco reasoned out.

"But I want _you_."

"No, you can't. You can't, Hermione! I'm vile, evil, cruel-"

"Oh shut up, you little ferret!" Hermione interrupted and kissed him, slowly, deliberately, until Draco succumbed with a small groan, his strong arms wrapping around her as he pulled her in closer. He answered her kiss desperately, as if she was the only thing keeping him alive. Hermione sighed; Merlin, this felt so good! No wonder so many women had fallen victim to this man, he was sensuality incarnate. She could keep on kissing him forever.

"No, wait! Merlin, I didn't mean for this to happen…Hermione, I can't." Draco said, pulling away from her.

Hermione looked at him and saw fear in his mercurial eyes. "Look at me, Draco. You're only human, you're not perfect. We all make mistakes, some of them we regret until the day we die. But if you were given a second chance, wouldn't you take it?"

"Yes, I would." Draco whispered.

"That's what I'm doing now. I'm giving you a second chance."

"But why?" he said, turning back at her.

"Everyone deserves second chances." she gazed into his silver eyes.

"But I'm a Death Eater, Hermione! I've done terrible things! I've teased and tormented you for years, I poisoned Katie Bell, put Madam Rosmerta under the Imperius Curse…I _killed_ Dumbledore!" he said, grimacing as he remembered all the horrible things he had done.

"But you regret it."

"Yes, of course I regret it! I'll regret it every single day of my life!"

"And that's exactly what sets you apart from the others, Draco. That's why you can be saved."

"But I'll hurt you, Hermione! You said it yourself, I crucio-ed you in your dream! Who says I won't do it in real life?" he said

"You did, Draco. You promised me yourself."

"But what if I can't? God, I don't want to hurt you, Hermione. I care about you too much."

Hermione's heart swelled. "We'll fight your demons, Draco. Together. Instead of wasting your time dwelling on the past, why not use it to fight for the good side? For the Order of the Phoenix? You might not be able to change your past, but you damn sure can change your future."

Slowly, Draco's resolve began to crumble. This perfect woman, no, angel, was willing to give him a second chance. For him to be completely accepted by a person, for someone to know everything he's done in the past and still look at him the way she was looking at him right now...it was too much for him to bear.

He cupped her face in his hand, and kissed her gently. His lips touched her softly, his kiss more like a whisper. "God, Hermione, I swear I'll make it up to you. I promise, you won't regret giving me a second chance." he murmured.

Hermione sat there, stunned by the conviction in which Draco had said that he would change for her. It was almost too good to be true. But now, as she stared at the man sitting right in front of her, she could actually believe it. She sat there, completely mesmerized by Draco Malfoy; his white blonde hair tousled to perfection, the earnest way he stared at her with his beautiful gray eyes as he promised to change for her. He looked like an angel, an Adonis. Her Adonis, she smiled.

"Stay with me tonight." she whispered to him.

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**Ahhh, there you go! How'd you guys like it? :) Comment and review please? Tell me what you guys wanna see in the next chapters. :)**


	17. Chapter 17: New Beginnings

**Hey everyone, I'm so sorry it took so long for me to update. I've been incredibly busy this past week, you wouldn't believe it. :o Hopefully, I do you justice through this chapter though. **

**Again, thanks for the follow, favorites and reviews! And most especially, thanks to my bestest awesome pal, Cerenbus. Snape. Malfoy, who gave me the inspiration to write this chapter and who's always given me amazing ideas! :D**

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**Chapter Seventeen: New Beginnings**

Draco woke up the next morning and smiled when he saw Hermione sleeping next to him.

Merlin, it had really happened hadn't it? Last night hadn't been just a dream; Hermione was actually willing to look past his previous mistakes and give him a second chance. She actually told him that she wanted him. They'd _kissed_! He smiled even wider. _He got the girl_. The girl of his dreams, too. Beautiful, smart, brave…

"Why are you smiling?" Hermione interrupted his thoughts. Draco didn't even notice that she was awake.

"Because...I'm happy." he said simply.

Hermione smiled shyly. "I make you happy?" she asked him.

"Only you, Granger. Only you." he assured her.

Hermione grinned, making Draco want her even more. Merlin, she looked amazing when she smiled.

"What're you thinking about?" Hermione interrupted his thoughts again.

"I was remembering how beautiful you looked during the Yule Ball. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you, you know."

She blushed. "I wasn't aware that you noticed me back then."

"How could I not? You had everybody's attention from the moment you walked in the Great Hall, Granger. You looked absolutely stunning that night. When I saw you, I was gripped." Draco admitted.

"You were gripped?"

"Yeah, I was. You fascinated me, Granger. You weren't like those other vapid girls falling head over heels over guys. You were beautiful, smart and clever and-"

"So you're saying that I fascinated you because I didn't fall for your charms like the other girls in my year?" Hermione raised one eyebrow.

"Well I didn't exactly put on my charms for you, did I?"

"No, you were too busy calling me a mudblood actually."

"_Don't._ Don't ever call yourself that. You're beautiful, Granger." Draco said vehemently.

"But I _am_ a mudblood. Mudblood and proud of it!" Hermione pressed.

"You're a muggle-born, not a mudblood. Look, I'm sorry about how I treated you all these years. Really, I am. I treated you like filth, and you didn't deserve that. Haven't you noticed that I haven't called you by that horrid name ever since the Yule Ball? You changed my perspective that day. I...I couldn't understand how someone that beautiful could be considered filthy. How someone that was considered as a lowly being captivated everyone in the room. You were a goddess that night, and I was fascinated by you ever since."

Hermione stayed still, unable to say anything. It was true, though. She hadn't heard Draco call her a mudblood since the Yule Ball. Had she really changed his perspective that night? Hermione wondered pensively.

"Anyways, I'm quite certain that you'd be falling head over heels for me if I did put on my charms for you." Draco teased.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't think so." she laughed.

"You don't?" Draco raised his eyebrow.

"Not one bit." Hermione answered smugly.

"Really?"

"_Really_."

"We'll see, then." Draco said as he stood up and changed into Muggle clothing.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked quizzically.

"I'll be back in about an hour. Be sure you're ready by then." he said as he hurried out of the door, leaving a confused Hermione behind.

What was that all about? Draco Malfoy really was a confusing man, wasn't he? Hermione wondered what he was up to, but decided not to waste time and go get ready instead. By the time she finished taking a shower and getting ready, she heard a knock on her door. Hermione opened it, only to find Draco standing outside.

"Why are you knocking, Malfoy? Did you forget your key?" asked Hermione.

Draco didn't answer her question, and instead took her hand and kissed it gently. "Miss Granger." he acknowledged as he handed her a bouquet of pink roses.

Hermione was surprised. Draco Malfoy had actually brought her flowers.

"Oh...Malfoy, these are absolutely beautiful." she whispered.

"They're the same color as the dress you wore to the Yule Ball." he explained.

Hermione nodded in reply, touched by the fact that he actually remembered what color her dress was that night.

"And about that whole 'Malfoy' thing. I was hoping you'd call me Draco from now on. Fresh start, right?" he gave a hopeful little smile.

"Of course...Draco. You can call me Hermione if you'd like." she said.

"Nice to meet you, Hermione." Draco grinned as he extended his hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Draco." she laughed as she took his hand and shook it.

"You look nice today, by the way." he said smoothly.

Hermione laughed. He was actually trying to charm her, wasn't he? "Thanks, you look pretty decent yourself. Now where exactly are you taking me?" she asked.

"Uh-uh. Not ruining the surprise. Come on!" Draco said as he offered his arm to her. Hermione took it, and blushed when she felt his strong biceps.

"Like what you feel?" Draco said smugly.

"Hmm...on the contrary you're rather scrawny for a Seeker." she teased him.

Draco laughed. "You do know how to shut me up, Hermione."

He led her through the village, the two of them chatting amicably as they passed through the various shops. Draco still refused to tell Hermione where they were going, and Hermione had stopped asking. She decided to trust him on this one.

After about half an hour, they were back on the top of the hill that overlooked the village. And on second glance, Hermione saw that there was a blanket and a basket laid on the floor.

"We're having a picnic?" she asked in surprise.

"Mhhmm." Draco smiled as he motioned for her to sit down.

Hermione's eyes widened, the basket he prepared seemed to contain about half a dozen dishes or more, from Sheppard's pie, buttered croissants, black pudding, orange juice and some fresh strawberry cake.

"Undetectable extension charm?" she asked Draco as he brought the dishes out from the basket.

"Plus a feather-light charm to make the basket weightless. Otherwise my scrawny self wouldn't be able to carry it, right?" Draco winked, making Hermione laugh.

"Seriously though, this is too much Draco. How many people were you expecting to feed?!" she exclaimed.

"Well they're all of my favorites...I wanted you to try them. Florean's a fantastic cook." Draco smiled.

"Does...does Florean know about, uhm, us?" she asked tentatively.

"I think he knew before we did, to be honest." he chuckled.

"That's true...he did surprise me back then, saying that you loved me." Hermione said, making Draco's silver eyes widen in surprise.

"L-love...?" he croaked.

"Oh no, Draco I didn't mean...he's wrong of course. I wasn't insinuating that...er..." Hermione rambled on frantically.

Draco put his arm around her soothingly. "I know you didn't mean to say that, Hermione. But...uhm...let's just take it one step at a time, yeah?" he said.

Hermione nodded, glad that he didn't overreact. Sweet Hufflepuff, why did she slip up like that? Their relationship was too fragile at the moment. Neither of them knew exactly where they stood. Hermione frowned slightly; this was probably the most reckless thing that she'd ever done. She couldn't bear to think of Harry and Ron's reactions whey found out about Draco and her. They'd go completely ballistic, no doubt. And what about Ron? She knew he had feelings for her; he wasn't exactly subtle about it. Hermione thought that she reciprocated those feelings, but no. The way she felt about Ron was much different from the way she felt about Draco. With Ron it was simple and safe; it was comfortable since they knew everything about each other from years of being friends. But with Draco...it was indescribable. Their relationship was unpredictable, making it exciting. While it felt reckless, it felt right too. Being with him felt right somehow. But she knew being with him wouldn't be easy. They'd challenge each other and fight constantly; but still, Hermione couldn't help being drawn to him, like a moth with flames. He was mesmerizing, with his silver eyes and white blonde hair. And his kisses...Merlin's beard, how can something so wrong feel so right? Hermione thought to herself as she placed her head on Draco's shoulder while he pulled her closer to him.

Draco smiled when he felt Hermione put her head on his shoulder. He pulled her closer to him, smelling her vanilla scented locks and planting a soft kiss on her forehead. Salazar, she was intoxicating! From the smell of her hair to the warmth of her smile, which filled him with hope and light inside. She was so beautiful...what had he done to deserve her? He felt like the luckiest man in the world. He gripped her tighter, never wanting to let her go. He'd do anything to keep her safe. Whatever happens, whatever challenge they would face, Draco didn't want to be separated from the Gryffindor princess anymore.

After minutes of being in Draco's arms, Hermione's stomach grumbled.

"Yeah, we should probably eat now." Draco said. "Don't want to put Florean's food to waste, yeah?"

The food was just as heavenly as Hermione remembered it to be. Florean was definitely an extraordinary cook.

"Here, try this. It's my favorite." Draco said as he picked up the strawberry cake.

Hermione chuckled. "You say that with every dish!" she teased.

"Because they're all my favorites!" he pouted, making Hermione chuckle even more.

"But seriously, this one's my absolute favorite." he grinned as he passed the dish to her.

Hermione took a bite and was pleasantly surprised. It was delicious, the strawberries were perfectly sweet and the cream melted in her mouth. "Mmmm" she said appreciatively.

"Told you it was delicious." Draco said smugly.

"Florean certainly outdid himself on this one."

"Florean didn't make it, I did."

"You made this?" Hermione said, shocked.

"Well, okay, Florean might have helped a bit." Draco said, making Hermione look at him dubiously.

"Okay, he helped a lot!" Draco said, raising both of his hands in surrender. "But I did chop the strawberries. Without magic!" he said smugly.

"And why'd you do that?" Hermione chuckled.

"I wanted it to be more personal, you see." he smiled shyly.

Hermione was surprised. Who knew that Draco Malfoy could be so sweet?

"Well thank you, it's delicious. So do you want to be a cook in the future?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm good at mixing stuff, but I prefer potions, not food. Snape didn't just favor me because of my father, you know. I actually worked hard in his class." he explained.

Hermione shifted guiltily, knowing that she was one of the people who had assumed that he was favored by the professors due to his father's position at Hogwarts. "So would you want to be a potions professor after Hogwarts?" she inquired.

Draco regarded her question carefully. "Teaching's not really my thing; I don't have the patience for it. But I...uhm...I would like to be a Healer someday. Hopefully." he said somewhat sheepishly.

"A healer? Why a healer?"

"Like I said, I'm good with potions. I can do minor healing spells too. And...well, I'd like to do something good for a change. Something that would help people." he smiled shyly.

"That's great, Draco! I'm sure you'd make an excellent healer!" Hermione smiled enthusiastically.

"Really?" Draco looked at her with hopeful eyes.

"Yes, really. You're a Malfoy, of course you'll do great!" Hermione said.

Draco's hopeful look vanished, and was replaced by a bitter frown. "Exactly, I'm a Malfoy! Who would want a Malfoy to heal them? My patients would probably think I'm out to poison them." he said grimly.

"I'm sure people would want you as their healer. You just have to show them this Draco, not the old one." Hermione said encouragingly.

Draco still looked doubtful, but he decided not to pursue the topic. "How about you, what would you want to be in the future?"

"I don't know, actually. Join the ministry, probably. I'd love to take up Magical Law. Make sure that the justice system is fair for both wizards and other magical creatures alike."

"Sounds like something you'd be great at. You were the one who founded S.P.E.W, right?"

"Yeah, that was pretty much a failure. I only managed to convince a couple of people to join." Hermione said regretfully.

"I did."

"What?" Hermione said, taken aback.

"Well, not directly. I paid a first year to sign up using his name for me."

"Why?"

"Like I said, I was fascinated with you." Draco shrugged.

"That...that was incredibly nice of you, Draco. Thank you." Hermione kissed him on the cheek, making Draco's cheek a little bit more rouge than pale.

"You're welcome." he said.

They ate until they were full to the brim, both completely satiated with the excellent food that Florean had prepared. They sat in comfortable silence for a long time, taking in the gorgeous scenery. The weather had been getting warmer the past few days, and the snow had started to melt. There were a few sprigs of flowers that were starting to sprout, a testament to Draco and Hermione's newly growing relationship.

"Draco?" Hermione said after a long time.

"Mmm?"

"Can we duel?" she asked him.

"What? Of course not! What about your arm?" Draco said, somewhat alarmed by Hermione's request.

"My arm's much better! It's much stronger now, and I really think I can move on to wandwork."

"So practice minor spells! Levitate or enlarge stuff. You can't duel yet, I might hurt you."

"Don't underestimate me, Malfoy." Hermione said crossly.

Draco sighed at the use of his last name. This wasn't how he planned it; he was supposed to be charming Hermione, not making her angry.

"Look, Hermione, I'm just worried you might be overexerting yourself, okay? And what good would you be in a real battle if you did overexert yourself in a mock duel?" he explained.

"That's exactly my point! I have to prepare myself for battle. I need to get stronger, and the only way for that to happen is if I practiced spells. Please, Draco?" she pleaded.

Draco sighed. "Fine." he relented. "But we'll take it easy, okay?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Okay." she said, slightly irked about Draco's overprotectiveness.

Draco set up protective wards around the area to prevent the Muggles from walking in on them whilst they dueled. He had just finished placing the last charm when he heard Hermione shout out:

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Draco fell to the ground, his body stiff as stone. He looked around frantically, frightened that a Death Eater cast the spell on him, but only saw Hermione clasping a hand over her mouth.

"Oh Merlin, I'm sorry! I was too excited to cast a spell...I wasn't even sure it would actually work." she said.

Draco quickly did the counter-curse nonverbally. "Guess I really shouldn't underestimate you, huh?" he said, a bit humiliated that Hermione had caught him off guard.

"I told you not to." Hermione said smugly.

"Well, that's not fair. We didn't even start the duel properly…or did you forget the rules?" Draco raised one eyebrow challengingly.

"Of course not." Hermione said haughtily.

"Let's start, then." Draco said as he gave a bow, while Hermione copied him.

The two were well-matched, with Hermione casting numerous complex defensive spells, and Draco retaliating by catching Hermione off guard through his nonverbal spells. Draco quickly learned not to underestimate Hermione, for the latter was as adept at defensive spells as he was. He was exceedingly careful not to use any of the dark spells that his Aunt Bellatrix taught him but Hermione refused to give him any quarter and gave him the best she had. She sent a stinging hex towards him, which Draco deflected by shouting 'Tarantallegra', making Hermione's feet dance uncontrollably. Her clumsy feet accidentally tripped over a stone, but luckily Draco's fast reflexes as a Seeker had not abandoned him, and he was able to catch her from falling just in time. However, her still-dancing legs kicked him right behind his knee, making it buckle and sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

"Finite." Draco mumbled, making Hermione's dancing feet stop.

"Densaugeo!" said Hermione as she pointed her wand at him.

Draco's front teeth immediately started growing at alarming pace. Hermione rolled over in laughter. "Oh you have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that to you!" she laughed, making Draco look at her murderously.

"Okay, okay I'll fix it!" Hermione immediately said, still laughing.

The moment Draco's teeth were fixed, he said: "You like laughing, don't you? Titillandus!" Draco used the tickling charm on her.

Hermione started laughing hysterically. "Stooooop!" she cried as she clutched her stomache and howled with laughter.

"What? More?" Draco teased.

"Noooo!"

"Finite." Draco relented, saying the counter-charm.

The two lay down on the ground, exhausted. "That was an excellent duel." Hermione said.

"Yeah, it actually was. It's been quite a while since I actually felt challenged in a duel." Draco admitted.

"Me too." Hermione conceded. "I wouldn't want to be fighting against you in a real battle."

"Neither would I. You're quite good with stinging hexes."

"My personal favorite." Hermione grinned.

"How's your arm?"

"As good as new."

Draco summoned the basket and pulled out a bottle of red wine. He uncorked it using his wand, and poured each of them a drink. The sun was setting now, bathing the couple in its golden rays.

"To the complete healing of your arm." Draco said as he and Hermione toasted.

The couple sat side by side, watching the sun set. Hermione leaned in closer and kissed Draco on the cheek. "Thank you, Draco. For saving me, for looking for a cure for me and for giving me such a perfect day." she whispered to him.

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**There you go! Their first official date, hehe. I know that there wasn't much action in this chapter, but I kind of wanted their relationship to grow a bit and for them to have some time for themselves, without having the Order or Harry and Ron messing with their relationship. How'd you like it? Leave a review, thanks!**


	18. Chapter 18: The Burrow

**Hey everyone! Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween ;) Really excited about this chapter, it was quite fun to write. Hehehe. **

**Thanks for all of the new follows, favorites and reviews! I LOVE reviews, I literally jump up and down whenever I get one. And now the story has 51 reviews! Yaaay :) **

**To the guest who had a test but read my story instead, I do hope you did well on that test. Lol. Hope you guys like this next chapter! :)**

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**Chapter Eighteen: The Burrow**

Hermione was still in high spirits by the time she and Draco arrived at the inn. Draco certainly succeeded in charming her, although she would never openly admit it to him. It was by far the best date that Hermione ever had. Her previous dates seemed incredibly dull in comparison. Krum hadn't talked much, which made it quite awkward for the two of them, while Cormac had never stopped talking at all about himself, which irritated her to no end. Draco was the perfect combination of them both, knowing when to talk and when to listen. He was a master of gallant gestures; it was obvious that he gave a lot of thought to their date, from the location of the picnic to the food that he brought. Hermione had amazing time, it definitely felt nice to have a break from all the worrying and the tension about the war that was going on.

But Hermione could still see how much Draco was haunted by his past. He had tried to hide it from her, but he was obviously still under the shadow of his name and of his blood. She felt sorry for him, because she realized that once someone was broken in a certain way they can't ever be fixed. Draco would forever be tortured of his past, but it would be his choice on whether he wanted to dwell on it and allow it to swallow him whole, or make his future better instead. She'd be there to help him, but only if he'd let her. Hermione's brows furrowed, what was she doing with him? What exactly were they now? They were clearly more than friends, but were they in a relationship? Hermione didn't want to ask him, she was too afraid of his answer. What if they weren't? What if Draco just considered her as a dalliance, as something to pass time with? What if he told her that he'd made a mistake, that he wasn't strong enough to go against his father? She didn't know how she'd be able to take it; she'd grown too attached to him over the past few days. But what if they _were_ in a relationship? Hermione gulped, it felt too soon. Much too soon. She didn't know how deeply she felt for Draco, a day of him charming her wasn't enough to undo years of his bullying and transgressions. It would be a slow progress, but she'd be able to trust him again...in time. That was another thing she was nervous about: What if the others wouldn't be as willing to give him a second chance as she was? What would the Order say about him…about them? What would Harry and Ron say?

Hermione shut her eyes; she was definitely over thinking her situation. Ginny had always reprimanded her for doing that, saying that Hermione had to let loose and go with the flow. Hermione envied the redhead, she had the uncanny ability to make light of every situation and handle life very nonchalantly. She could never do that; Hermione preferred to think through everything, picking out the littlest detail in every situation. She didn't want to be caught unprepared for anything. But over thinking always gave her a migraine, and the strain of thinking about her relationship with Draco started giving her a headache.

"Okay Ginny, I'll try to go with the flow." Hermione whispered, following the advice of the youngest Weasley.

"Did you say something?" Draco said as he stepped out of the bathroom, wearing a t-shirt and loose sweatpants.

"Nothing, I was just thinking aloud." Hermione blushed a bit as she stared at him. How in Merlin's bloody name can the man look handsome in just about anything that he wore?

"'Kay then." Draco said calmly as he lay down at the lumpy old couch.

"Isn't it uncomfortable there?" Hermione asked him.

"Just a bit. It's okay, I can manage." he shrugged.

"You don't have to, you know. You can stay here with me." Hermione said, surprising both her and Draco. "Only if you want to, of course. It's just a bit ridiculous for you to sleep there, considering that you've already slept here twice and well-"

Draco stood up and placed a finger on her lips. "Hermione, you're rambling." he smirked, making Hermione blush furiously.

"I'm sorry." she said simply.

"No, don't be. I like that about you." Draco said and pressed his lips softly onto hers. Hermione slowly moved closer, wrapping her arms around his neck. He deepened the kiss, removing all of her doubts about him in her mind, making her forget all of her worries for a moment. It was magic, the way his lips connected with hers. It felt right, somehow. He broke off the kiss; she could feel him smiling, but she didn't want to open her eyes yet, instead choosing to savor the moment of perfect bliss.

"Goodnight, Hermione." Draco whispered, and kissed her gently on her forehead.

Draco watched her as she slept, mesmerized by how peaceful she looked, his own beautiful angel. Salazar, he must be the luckiest bastard ever. He looked at her guiltily, he didn't deserve her and he knew that. She was too good for him; she'd been defending the light for as long as he could remember, whereas he was brought up to fight for the dark side since his childhood. Draco cringed; what was he going to do about his Unbreakable Vow? Was there even a way to sever his ties with Bellatrix? There probably was, but he didn't know about it. The only person who could help him find a way around it was Hermione, but Draco was too scared and too proud to ask for her help. How would she react if she found out about his Vow? How would she feel when she found out that he had once again sold his soul to Voldemort, at the Order's expense..._at her expense_? She'd feel betrayed, no doubt, and would most likely not want to have anything to do with him anymore. Draco sighed; he didn't think he'd be able to take it if she left him now. He wanted her, even if went against everything he stood for. It scared him to no end, of course. How was it that he wanted someone that he'd been taught to hate? Someone he'd once considered as tainted? How was it that in the course of a week he'd gone from a spineless wreck to someone who's defied his own father...his own family? He had been dreaming of leaving the Death Eaters for a while now, of course. Draco had never really wanted to do anything with them in the first place, he was disgusted by their abhorrent and cruel practices, but Draco never really had the chance or the nerve to do so...until Hermione. She'd given him the courage to stand up for himself, to get up and leave. She was his angel, his redeemer.

* * *

Hermione might have looked peaceful on the outside as she slept, but her dreams were anything but that. She was back at the Malfoy Manor, but this nightmare was so much different from all the rest. The ballroom was chaotic; spells were flying everywhere as three Death Eaters made her way towards her. She panicked, not knowing what to do, forgetting that she had a wand.

_"Protego!" a redheaded man yelled, jumping in front of her and deflecting a killing curse from one of the Death Eaters._

_"Thanks, Ron!" Hermione shouted over the noise as she recognized the man who saved her._

_"No problem, Harry!" Ron shouted back to her._

_Wait, did he just call her Harry? Hermione looked at the window, and was thunderstruck when she saw her reflection. Her bushy brown hair was jet black and messy, her eyes green instead of brown. She was Harry Potter._

_"Harry!" Ron shouted once more, but the warning had come too late. Rowle made a sudden slashing movement with his wand, and purple and black flames shot out of it, passing through Hermione's chest. She shouted in pain, it felt as if every organ inside of her suddenly burst into flames. She looked down to see that her chest was slashed, and she was bleeding unto the floor. Hermione closed her eyes in agony, this was the second time she had experienced this curse. Dolohov had hit her with the same curse during their battle at the Department of Mysteries. Now it looks like Rowle had learned a few tricks from his comrade, and had even further improved the dreaded curse._  
_Ron retaliated with the Impedimenta Jinx, causing Rowle to become immobilized. But he had failed to notice Crabbe and Goyle running towards them. Hermione was alarmed; they were getting closer and closer by the second, she had to do something. She took a deep breath and shouted "Expulso!", causing the white marble columns to topple down and form a barricade between the Death Eaters and her and Ron. The effort of it nearly caused her to pass out, but Ron grabbed her arm and yanked her towards the Drawing Room, where they Disapparated._

* * *

Hermione woke up panting as though she had actually been there in the ballroom. She panicked; Harry was seriously injured! Hermione had no doubt that the dream was real; that Harry and Ron had escaped the Malfoy Manor, and that Thorfinn Rowle had grievously hurt the boy who lived. She got up from the bed slowly, not wanting to wake Draco up, put on a thick coat and left their room. She needed fresh air to clear her mind.

She felt incredibly guilty; she'd been comfortable and safe at Deepwater Inn for the past few days while Harry was probably lying on his death bed. She had been traipsing around and making out with Draco when she should have been looking for her friends in the first place. Hermione grimaced, what kind of friend was she? This was war, for heaven's sake! There was no time for foolish love games. She had a duty to the Order and to her friends, she shouldn't have forgotten that. She'd never forgive herself if Harry never recovered from his injuries. She had to find him before it was too late. But where could he possibly be?

"The Burrow. They might be at the Burrow. I have to go find them." Hermione muttered to herself, passing through the inn's lobby. She left the inn and Disapparated to The Burrow.

The Burrow seemed oddly still and quiet on the outside, completely devoid of the deafening cracks and explosions from the Weasley twins and the sounds of Celestina Warbeck's singing from the radio. Curious and slightly worried by now, she opened the door and stepped inside the rickety house. Hermione was astonished, the Burrow was completely abandoned. It looked like everyone left in a haste too; the house was even more cluttered than usual, with unwashed dishes in the sink, books and other school materials strewn across the floor and cauldrons littered the tables. What exactly had happened here…_where were the Weasleys_?

She was in a state of panic by now, moving around the house and checking every single room for any signs of life. It felt quite odd, intruding the Weasleys' privacy like that. She went through each of their rooms, which were all in a similar state of mess as the living room and kitchens, with clothes and personal items haphazardly scattered everywhere. She paused as she entered Ron's room. She stared at the wall, decorated with posters of the Chudley Cannons, and smiled ruefully. She remembered the last time she had been there, during Bill and Fleur's wedding. The three of them were busy cleaning the house and making it look presentable, while planning for their search for the Horcruxes. It seemed like a lifetime ago; they were blissfully unaware of how difficult and tough their adventure would be, and of the problems they would face. Where were they now? Hermione wondered. She went back down to the living room, and heard a clock chime somewhere in the house. "The clock!" she gasped, as she turned around to look for the unique Weasley clock, hoping it might tell her where the family was.

It didn't however; the clock had been completely destroyed. Someone had obviously wanted to prevent her from finding them.

She heard the chime again, and looked around the room for where the sound was coming from. She happened to glance out of the window while doing so, and received a bolt of shock when she realized that two hooded figures were slowly making their way into the house.

* * *

Draco shifted sleepily in the bed; he had such a good night's rest. Funny how he slept much better when it was next to Hermione. Speaking of which, where was she? He glanced around the room, still half-asleep, as he looked for the brown-haired Gryffindor. She must be in the bathroom, he thought, completely unaware of Hermione's real whereabouts.

After a quarter of an hour, however, Draco started to be concerned. Hermione never took that long in the shower, was something wrong? He thought as he stood up and made his way to the bathroom, expecting to hear the sound of water against the tiles, but there was nothing but complete silence. Hermione wasn't inside the bathroom.

Draco felt an odd sense of foreboding, he put on his coat and grabbed his wand and left the room. On his way out, however, he saw Hermione's wand lying on the kitchen table. That's odd, Draco thought. He never saw her go anywhere without her wand.  
He grabbed the wand and went down to the lobby, greeting Florean.

"Morning, Florean." he said.

"Good morning to you too, Draco! Why are you up so early?" the innkeeper asked.

"Have you seen Hermione?" Draco asked point blank.

"Why, no, I haven't. Is something wrong?" Florean asked concernedly.

"No, I'm sure there isn't. She must've gone for a walk or something." Draco said, not wanting to alarm him.

"I saw her!" piped a small voice from behind the counter.

"You did?" Draco asked Eloise in surprise.

"Yeah, about an hour ago as she was leaving the inn. She looked a bit worried, if you ask me. Kept muttering something about a burrow and how she needed to find them before it was too late." the little girl shrugged.

Draco's eyes widened with fear. Hermione must have gone to The Burrow to look for Harry and Ron. His blood turned to ice; he knew for a fact that the Death Eaters kept an eye on the house, watching the Weasleys at a safe distance because of their involvement with the Order of the Phoenix. He needed to find her immediately.

"What's wrong, Draco?" Florean asked, not missing the look of fear in Draco's eyes.

"She's in danger, Flor. I have to go." he said hurriedly, leaving the inn without another word. He cast the protective wards around the inn and apparated about half a mile away from the Burrow.

* * *

Hermione quickly hid herself from the view of the Death Eaters and tried to apparate out of the house. It was no use, they obviously placed an Anti-Apparition jinx on the whole lot, preventing her from escaping. She searched her pockets for her wand, but it wasn't there. Hermione had almost kicked herself in frustration, how could she be stupid enough to forget her wand? The Death Eaters were getting closer, she had to act quickly.

Dropping to the floor, Hermione slowly crawled to the back door, hoping to make it out of the house unnoticed. She had just opened the back door when she heard the Death Eaters blast the front gates open. She ran towards the orchard behind the garden, which was thankfully surrounded by high trees. She wouldn't be able to fight the Death Eaters, but she could most certainly hide from them. It seemed like such an un-Gryffindor thing to do, but she had no choice as she couldn't find two Death Eaters whilst wandless. She hid behind a huge oak tree, panting in exhaustion.

"We know you're there! Come out come out wherever you are!" a Death Eater shouted from inside the house, goading her. Hermione's heart stopped beating when she realized it was Dolohov who was calling out to her. She'd know that voice anywhere, especially after what he'd done to her at the Department of Mysteries. She'd spent countless nights at the Hospital Wing taking numerous vile-tasting potions because of what he'd done to her.

"There's no point in hiding little missy, I can smell your dirty mudblood from all the way here!" a second voice shouted. Fenrir Greyback. Hermione closed her eyes in a panic. He was right; she couldn't hide from him, not when he could smell her scent and track her. She started to become desperate, why in the world had she come here without thinking it through?

Suddenly, Hermione felt an arm grab her from behind. She trashed wildly, and was about to scream when a hand clasped around her mouth. She fought for a few more seconds, but it was useless. Whoever it grabbed her was much too strong. Tears started to fill her eyes; she was not going to die like this! She thought as she started to struggle once more.

"Stop fighting, Granger!" a voice hissed in her ear.

Hermione's arms stopped flailing about in shock. She turned around to see a familiar blonde haired wizard. "Draco!" she shouted, although her voice was muffled due to the hand that was still clasped over her mouth.

Draco let her go, and Hermione almost knocked him over with the force of her hug.

"No time for this, Hermione! We're going to have to fight them, alright? You take Dolohov, and I'll take Greyback." Draco said as he pushed her away gently.

"But Draco, I haven't got-" Hermione started to say, but Draco quickly handed her wand to her.

"Thanks." she whispered in astonishment.

Draco gave her a nod and looked behind the oak tree carefully, looking for the two Death Eaters. Well, one, really. Greyback wasn't officially a Death Eater, but was definitely savage enough to be one.

"They're just about to leave the house through the back door. I say we attack them. We have the element of surprise, and we're definitely much better duelers than they are." he whispered to Hermione.

Hermione nodded, although she was a bit frightened. They might be better duelers, but their opponents wouldn't hesitate to use Dark Magic even for a moment.

"Now, Hermione!" Draco said, and they both darted out from their hiding spot.

"Petricifus Totalus!" Hermione shouted, pointing her wand at Dolohov, but missed.

"_Mudblood_!" the enraged Death Eater shouted as he spotted her. He started to make a slashing movement with his wand, but Hermione threw a Stinging Hex at him, causing him to lose focus and clutch his face in pain.

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione shouted, but Dolohov managed to hold onto his wand.

"You filthy little mudblood! You'll pay for that!" he shouted, firing numerous curses towards her but kept missing as his eyes were reduced to slits, an effect of the Stinging Hex.

"Serpensortia!" he shouted, conjuring a huge snake out of his wand and sent it flying towards Hermione.

"Confringo!" Hermione shouted in alarm, but managed to blast the snake away from her.

"Vipera Evanesca!" she shouted, vanishing the snake before it managed to strike her.

Dolohov was enraged by that point, and shouted "Crucio!". Thankfully, Hermione managed to dodge the torture curse. She was not about to let herself be tortured at the hands of a Death Eater again.

"I'm going to kill you, you mudblood!" he shouted as he started to ran towards her blindly.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she shouted as she pointed her wand at Dolohov, sending him crashing to the ground, unmoving.

Meanwhile, Draco was having a tough time with Greyback. The man was a handful, his werewolf genes managing to deflect most of his spells. He had resorted to using Dark Magic, which was much stronger.

Hermione stared in amazement at Draco's battle with Greyback while she conjured up ropes to tie the incapacitated Dolohov. He was using Dark Magic, black flames and gold sparks flying out of his wand and hitting Greyback squarely on the chest, rendering him unconscious. The werewolf had managed to hit him with a curse before he went down, however, and caused a wide gash to appear on Draco's cheek.

"Draco!" Hermione said as she ran up to him, touching his face gently with her wand.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Draco said as he shook her shoulders.

"No, I'm fine. Are you?" Hermione replied, looking up to his worried silver eyes.

"You're a bloody idiot, Granger!" he shouted, surprising Hermione. "Why the fuck did you go here, didn't it occur to you that the Death Eaters were watching this place?" he continued.

Hermione's heart sank. He was right, she should have thought about that.

But apparently Draco was not finished reprimanding her yet. "You didn't even bring your _wand_! You're damn lucky that Eloise heard where you were going, you know. Merlin, Granger, how could you be so _reckless_?! I thought you were supposed to be the brightest witch of our age!"

"I'm sorry, okay! I was worried about Harry and Ron!" she shouted back.

Draco's turned red when he heard Weasley's name. "And why were you so worried about the Potter and the Weasel?" he spat.

"I had a dream that they escaped the Manor, and Harry was seriously injured by Thorfinn Rowle." she explained.

"A _dream_?! You risked your life because of a _dream_?! How reckless can you get, Granger?!" Draco shouted, the veins on his head bulging.

"Harry's my best friend! Ron, too. I had to make sure they were okay."

"Are you sure Ron's just your friend? You two look much too close to be just friends." Draco said sullenly.

"Draco Malfoy...are you jealous?" Hermione smirked.

Draco rolled his eyes. "As if I'd ever be jealous of that sorry excuse for a wizard." he said.

"Are you sure?" Hermione said as she moved closer to him, placing both of her hands on his chest.

"I'm not jealous!" Draco said adamantly.

Hermione kissed him gently, her soft lips pressing onto his. Draco pulled her towards him immediately, his hands wrapped around her waist as he kissed her. Hermione was taken aback, Draco had never kissed her so fiercely before. "Merlin, Hermione, don't make me worry like that again." he growled in her ear as he kissed her possessively, making Hermione melt in his arms.

After a few moments, Hermione broke the kiss, resting her forehead on Draco's. "I'm sorry, I know what I did was reckless."

"_Completely_ reckless." Draco interrupted, causing Hermione to chuckle.

"Fine, it was _completely_ reckless. I promise I won't do it again." she agreed.

"You promise?" Draco said as he pulled her in for a hug.

"Yeees, I promise!" Hermione rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

"Not even for Weasley, okay?"

"You are jealous!" Hermione laughed, pulling out of his hug and looking him in the eyes.

Draco cleared his throat. "We should probably do something about those two." he said, motioning to the two incapacitated figures on the floor.

Hermione rolled her eyes once more and smirked as Draco avoided her question. She quickly sobered up when she glanced at the Dolohov and Greyback. "I'll have to Oblivate them, and plant false memories in their brains. Otherwise they'd know we were here." she said.

Draco nodded. "It'll do, I suppose. Just make sure whatever memory you choose is believable enough."

Hermione proceeded to obliviate the two, completely erasing their memories of their fight, and planting false memories in their heads. Afterwards, she and Draco tidied up the place and removed any evidence of a fight, then apparated back to the inn.

* * *

**Hope you guys liked this chapter, and that it wasn't too cheesy or anything. Haha. Please leave a review and make me happy? :) **


	19. Chapter 19: Point of No Return

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting, been tired to the bone this past week…I had sooo much things to do! And on top of that, I've had a horrible case of writer's block, so please excuse the shortness of this chapter. I hope the content makes up for it, though. **

**As usual, thanks for the positive feedback. I love getting new follows, favorites and reviews; if I didn't get any I probably would have abandoned this story a long time ago. Special thanks to Cerenbus. Snape. Malfoy. , for letting me bounce ideas off of him and for giving me the idea for this chapter. You're awesome, this chapter's for you! ;)**

**To TatiVm, I've done my research and have found that whilst in the books they usually apparate with a wand, there's no hard proof to suggest that they can't do so without it. Many have even suggested that it's possible to apparate without a wand, but it's simply much more difficult to do so. So, for the sake of this fic, let's just say that wizards and witches can apparate and disapparate without a wand. Hehe :)**

**Also, I've written a Dramione one-shot named "Under the Mistletoe". I do hope you take the time to read it. :)**

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: Point of No Return**

The two apparated back to the inn after Hermione had successfully Obliviated the two Death Eaters and sent them back to their headquarters with false memories implanted in their heads. Thankfully, neither Florean nor Eloise was there to question them about their disheveled appearances. They were both still in their sleeping attires, only covered by their coats, while Draco had blood on his face due to the deep gash that Greyback had given him. They hurried to their room, careful not to be seen by anyone.

Both removed their coats and stared blankly at the room, still in shock with their encounter with the Death Eaters. It had been too close a shave for their liking, Hermione had been found much too easily.

Hermione winced when she saw the deep gash on Draco's cheek. It was her fault he was hurt in the first place. But then again she probably would have been dead right now if he hadn't found her. She walked over to him and touched it lightly. "Does it hurt, Draco?" she asked concernedly.

Draco stared at Hermione's face intently and shook his head. Merlin, even after a battle she still looked so damn beautiful. He had come so close to losing her today, and the thought of it made him close his eyes in pain.

"Hey, are you okay?" Hermione's voice made him open his eyes. She was looking at him worriedly.

Draco removed her hand from his cheek and placed his hand on the wound, muttering some words and healing himself. The gash closed up immediately, leaving no mark that he had been wounded in the first place.

"Draco?" Hermione whispered again.

"Merlin, Hermione, I was too damn frightened for you!" he burst out suddenly. "I could've lost you today...what if I wasn't there to save you? What if Dolohov managed to hurt you?" he shuddered at the thought.

Hermione sighed and bowed her head. He wasn't done reprimanding her, wasn't he? She had rather thought he was when they left The Burrow, but apparently not. "Look, I know what I did was incredibly rash and reckless. I just...I just couldn't stand the thought of my friends injured. By Dolohov's curse, too. I had to go find them." she said.

"What do you mean 'By Dolohov's curse, too'?" Draco asked.

"I fought in the Department of Mysteries, remember? He hurt me then; cast a spell on me that caused my internal organs to bleed. I spent a week in the Hospital Wing, taking ten different potions a day, after my encounter with him. That's the same curse that Harry got hit with in my dream."

"And I made you fight him again today…oh Merlin." Draco groaned in anguish.

"I would have fought him either way, Draco! He injured Harry, I know it!" Hermione cried out, annoyed that Draco was making her to be some sort of weakling who couldn't handle Death Eaters. She was Hermione Granger, for heaven's sake! She wasn't a damsel in distress who didn't know how to fight for herself.

"I can't believe you would risk your own life for him, for a dream you weren't even sure was real!" he said angrily.

"You don't get it; it wasn't just a dream, Draco! I'm sure of it, Harry used to have dreams like this before...they were almost always right." Hermione said.

"Yeah, until they weren't. I know about what happened in the Department of Mysteries, you know. How the Dark Lord used Potter's dreams to lure him into the Ministry and get the prophecy. How are you not sure that he wasn't doing the same thing to you?" Draco shouted indignantly.

"I don't. But I had to go, Draco…they're my best friends! We've been in it together for years, and now I've been safe in this inn for a week while they could be fighting for their lives! I could never forgive myself if I didn't even _try_ to find them, especially after that dream." she shouted back.

"That's the thing with you Gryffindors! You have this bloody hero complex, charging into situations recklessly without even thinking it through. Potter has it, you have it…I thought you were cleverer than that, Hermione!"

"How dare you! You don't get to say that to me, just because you don't have any friends to risk your life for!" she shouted in frustration.

"What do you think I'm doing for you now, Granger? I've saved your life three damn times now! You didn't even give a single thought to me before you left looking for your bloody friends. Haven't you even thought of how _I'd_ feel if the Death Eaters got you? How much it would kill _me_ if you got hurt?" his voice broke.

"You're just jealous that I'd risk my life to save them!" Hermione said spitefully.

"Damn right I'm jealous! I'm jealous that even though I've saved you a dozen times, told you that I'm willing to change for you, opened up to you, you still end up running back to Potter and Weasley! _They_ get to have your undying loyalty and devotion while you leave _me_ behind without so much as a second glance. That makes me fucking jealous, all right?" he bellowed.

Hermione was startled by his admission. Draco Malfoy was a proud man, certainly not one to admit that he was jealous, especially of her friends. She felt strangely flattered by his jealousy. Certainly this meant that she meant more to him than just a fling or a dalliance, right? She slowly approached him, and put her shaking hands on his chest. Draco was breathing heavily due to all of his shouting.

"I'm sorry, Draco." she whispered and leaned on his chest, listening to his heart beat. She looked up and kissed him softly and deliberately, letting him know that his jealousy of her friends were completely misguided. "You don't have to be jealous of them. I'm yours, Draco. Only yours." she breathed into his ear.

"Mine?" he whispered. Hermione nodded.

That broke Draco's stoic stance. He grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her protectively, almost squeezing her with the force of his hug. He was overwhelmed by the strength of his emotions for her; touching her made him realize that everything he ever wanted was standing right in front of him, tangled in his arms. He kissed her hungrily, completely drunk on his emotions.

"You're so beautiful." he murmured. Hermione kissed him back just as fiercely, marking him as hers just as much as he was.

She tangled her fingers in his soft white-blonde hair as his hands left the small of her back, caressing her waist. Hermione could feel the heat of his hands burning her skin. She bit gently on his lower lip, making him groan softly.

"Hermione...you got to promise me you won't go charging off recklessly like that again." he murmured.

Then he kissed her more deeply and passionately than she could've imagined. She pulled him closer, wanting to taste every single bit of him, losing herself completely in Draco's arms. Draco pulled back abruptly, and Hermione would have fallen forward if he hadn't steadied her.

"Promise me." he repeated.

"Yes...yes I promise." she said impatiently, wanting him to take her in his arms once more.

"I'm serious, Hermione. I can't protect you if you don't let me."

Hermione opened her eyes and stared into his. They were filled with desire, yes, but there was fear as well. Fear that one day he wouldn't be able to protect her; fear that one day he'd lose her. And there was something else in there as well, an emotion neither of them could understand yet.

"I promise." she said breathlessly.

He pushed her back to the wall roughly, his hands back on her waist, slowly making their way upwards. His kisses were voracious, almost as if he couldn't get enough of her. His hands rested on top of her breasts now, cupping them appreciatively, making her shiver in response.

"Draco I..." Hermione whispered. This was going much too fast, she'd never gotten this far with anyone else before. She was nervous.

"I won't hurt you, Hermione. Believe me." he said, bending down to kiss her neck. She sighed in response; the sensation of his kisses was definitely overwhelming her. She unconsciously ground her hips onto his, making him groan loudly.

"Merlin, Hermione, I want you so bad right now." he whispered sensually into her ear, gently sucking on her earlobe and making her throw her head back and sigh once more.

"Say you want me too." Draco said, planting soft kisses on her jaw and slowly made his way back to her lips. He kissed her briefly and then pulled back once more, leaving Hermione dizzy and breathless.

"Oh god...Draco, I want you too." she moaned.

The last strings of Draco's control broke, and he wrapped her legs around his waist and carried her to bed.

* * *

Draco woke up late in the afternoon, wondering why he felt exhausted. Then memories of the day's events hit him: his panic when he realized that Hermione was in danger, their duel with the two dark wizards at The Burrow, his fight with Hermione…and _that._

Salazar, he'd done it now, hadn't he? As if being with Hermione wasn't enough, he'd actually gone ahead and slept with her! And it had been bloody good too, he smiled at the memory. Draco had never experienced anything like that before. It was hungry, passionate, animalistic sex. He'd certainly never expected goody-two-shoes Hermione Granger to be capable of such voracious actions and completely let go of her inhibitions like that.

Of course, he had tried to do the gentlemanly thing and go slow on her as it was her first time, but Hermione wanted none of it, screaming and moaning his name until he obliged and gave in to her desires. He had never come so hard before, he reddened when he remembered how fast he had climaxed like a green boy. He couldn't help losing himself with the brown haired Gryffindor.

He stared at his Gryffindor now, awestruck at how angelic she looked, as compared to the wild vixen who was screaming his name earlier. What they did was incredibly reckless, he knew, but how can he regret something that wanted so badly? He gently brushed away a strand of hair that was in her face as he cupped her cheek protectively. Whatever happened now, she was his. She said it herself, _"Only yours"_ she had whispered to him. That had been Draco's undoing, that was when he realized that he was past the point of no return. She was his, and Draco never let anyone hurt those whom he cared about.

"I'll protect you no matter what it takes, Hermione." he whispered to her as he gently kissed her on the forehead.

He'd give her anything she wanted, and if she wanted to find Potter and Weasley, he'd do that for her. He'd find them, no matter what it took, if it meant her happiness

* * *

**Well, there you go! Like I said, I know it's much shorter compared to the previous chapters, but I kind of wanted this to have a chapter of its own, couldn't bear posting the next part with it as well. I hope you don't mind that I wasn't thoroughly specific about their sleeping together...I just wasn't comfortable with it. Hope I described it well enough, though. Next chapter we'll see Hermione's reaction to their recklessness. :) Hehe. Leave a review, please? **


	20. Chapter 20: Out in the Open

**Yup, uploading extra early! Just couldn't bear to keep you guys waiting. ;)**

**And a HUGE THANK YOU for those who left a review in the last chapter, you guys are the reason why this next chapter's posted early. I was just too motivated by your beautiful reviews. I'm thrilled to know you guys love this story, really means a lot to me. :) **

**And don't worry, Hermione's not pregnant. Haha. **

* * *

**Chapter Twenty: Out in the Open****  
**  
Hermione woke up later that day and immediately noticed Draco's absence from the room. She panicked for a second, then saw a piece of paper on her bedside table:

_"Relax, just went out to get us something to eat. -DM"_

Hermione relaxed and smiled at how Draco knew how she would react to his absence. He really did know her, didn't he? She sat up and winced at how sore her body was. Then the realization hit her- she had slept with Draco.

"Oh Merlin." she gasped, remembering what had happened between them. She didn't just sleep with him, she _slept_ with him. With Draco Malfoy!

Hermione calmed herself down, trying to think logically and realistically. Honestly, was she truly surprised at what they had done? They've already sort of acknowledged their feelings toward one another. And they _did_ share a room, didn't they? It was bound to happen sooner or later, she shouldn't have been too surprised about it.

The door opened and Draco stepped in, carrying a tray of food for them. "What's wrong?" he asked, taking note of her shocked expression.

Hermione immediately snapped out of her shock and forced a smile. "Nothing." she answered, although her voice was two octaves higher than it normally was.

Draco smiled and put the tray down on the kitchen table. "Well I'm sure you're quite famished. I know I am. Neither of us had had breakfast not lunch yet."

At the mention of food, Hermione's stomach started to grumble, reminding her of the fact that she had not eaten the entire day. She stood up and gave a small scream of shock when the heavy blanket fell off of her- she was still completely naked. How hadn't she noticed that? She immediately grabbed the blanket and covered herself. Blushing profusely, she said "Draco? Would you, uhm, mind handing me something to wear?"

Draco stared at Hermione amusedly. She looked so adorable when she was flustered or embarrassed. Nevertheless, he handed her one of his large shirts and promptly looked away when she put the shirt and her knickers on.

Hermione made her way to the small kitchen and sat down.

"Okay, out with it." Draco said.

"O-out with what?" she asked, feigning innocence.

"Don't play dumb with me, Hermione. You looked like you were staring at a bloody ghost when I walked in the room."

"Oh that." Hermione gave a small laugh. "You just startled me, that's all."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Please don't think I'm that big of an idiot. I know you better than that. What's bothering you?" he asked softly.

Hermione shook her head, refusing to answer him.

"Do you regret it?" Draco asked, with a hint of hurt in his voice.

"What? Of course not!" Hermione cried.

"Then what's wrong?" he pressed.

"I'm...embarrassed. And confused. And about a million other things in between." she said.

"Why in the world are you embarrassed?"

Hermione bit her lip. "Did...did I come on too strongly?" she asked anxiously.

Draco let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. THAT's what she was embarrassed about? He thought it would be more on the lines of 'I slept with a Death Eater!'

"Of course not, Hermione. You were amazing. You were absolutely perfect, and I'm not just saying that just because. If you must know, I've never felt like that with anyone else before."

She blushed and began picking on her food.

Draco sighed, sensing that there was more to this than she was letting on. "I wish I knew what you were thinking about. You don't have to hide anything from me, you know." he told her.

"What if I freak you out?" she mumbled.

He reached out and took her hand. "I won't freak out, trust me." he reassured her.

Hermione took a deep breath and said, "I'm confused to what exactly we are right now. Am I your girlfriend or your lover? Am I just a dalliance, a momentary lapse of judgement? If not, can we actually _be_ in a relationship? Would we hide it from people or not? What would your father say? What would Harry and Ron think? Did I even do it right? And why oh why did I not use a contraception charm before we did it?"

"Wow, uhm, you certainly gave it a lot of thought." Draco answered in a strained voice.

"You see, I did freak you out! And of course I've given it a lot of thought, otherwise I wouldn't be Hermione Granger. My mind's going about a hundred miles per hour and I have all of these emotions inside of me and I just have to remember to look past the extraneous detail and see things logically so that-"

"You're rambling again, Hermione."

"Because you're not answering my question!" she cried out.

Draco thought for a second before answering. "Of course you're not a dalliance. How could I treat you like that? I respect you far too much just to use you, and besides we both know you would never stand for that. I like you, Hermione. Plain and simple. To hell with Potter and Weasley, I don't care what they think. And my father can go to hell as well, he certainly was never a good father to me so I don't give a damn on what he'd say about us. It's you I care about, Hermione. Would you even want to have me, a Death Eater? People will say you've gone mental when they hear about us. You'll lose your credibility and I'll tarnish your honor. People will laugh and jeer at you for wanting to be with me, and I'd never wish for you to be ostracized like that. If you don't want that, just tell me. I can forget about everything that's happened here, pretend it never happened in the first place. But I_ will_ join the Order of the Phoenix, I _will_ fight for the better side. Not because of you, but because I want to. Because I know in my heart that it's right. So tell me, Hermione, do you want to forget this ever happened or not?"

Hermione stared at Draco in shock. He was actually giving her a way out of this, even if it was as clear as day that it would kill him if she chose to forget about what happened between them. Here was a man who cared about her so much that he was willing to set aside his own happiness if it meant hers. Who was willing to forget about everything so that she wouldn't lose her face in the public's eyes. It was overwhelming, she never dreamt that someone could actually care about her that much. And that that someone would be Draco Malfoy. The boy who tormented her for years, the school bully. But he's grown so much in the past week, hasn't he? He may not have wanted to join the Death Eaters willingly, but to actually leave them to fight with the Order was something she never believed could happen.

"Hermione?" he whispered, his silver eyes staring into hers, begging her to answer and put him out of his misery.

"I could never forget about you, Draco. I-I don't think I can. I'm yours, remember? And I don't care about what people say about us. I don't care if they think they're better than you, because they don't even know the real you. But I do, Draco. And after everything that you've done, I still want you. Merlin knows why, but I do." she answered.

Draco bowed his head. "I'm not a good person, Hermione. There's so many things I wished I never did, so many horrible things I wish I could undo. I don't deserve you, I know I don't. Hell, I wish I could go back in the past and change everything so that I could be the type of person you'd be expected to end up with. But I can't, so I just want you to know that I'm sorry I hurt you. I was cruel to you, and that's something I have to live with every single day. But I am trying to change, I'm trying to be a better person despite the things I've done and I want you to know that you're the reason for it. I may have wanted to change, but I've never found the strength to do so until you came along."

Hermione stared at him and was astounded by the sincerity of his words. It caught her off guard, and her eyes became watery.

"Hey, why are you crying?" Draco asked her.

"I'm not, I'm just overwhelmed." she said as she hastily wiped her eyes.

"I am too. I never expected this to happen, but I sure as hell don't regret it." he admitted.

"Good, so you'll let me be your girlfriend then?"

Draco laughed. "Figures you'll be the one to ask me."

"I wouldn't be Hermione Granger otherwise." she teased.

"That you wouldn't. And yes, I'll let you be my girlfriend if you let me be your boyfriend." he smiled.

"Good, that's settled then."

"Good."

"_Good_."

They both stared at each other and laughed, all of the previous tension in the room vanishing. It was all out in the open now, no turning back. It was them against the world. The Slytherin Prince and Gryffindor's Princess.

"Oh, and about your previous question. I did cast the contraception charm on you while you were asleep." Draco winked.

"You sly fox!" Hermione cried out, laughing.

"I wouldn't be Draco Malfoy otherwise. But I don't exactly remember if you did do it right." he teased.

"I suppose I'll just have to show you again, won't I?" she smirked, and Draco carried her to the bed without another word.

* * *

**Awww, there you go! I hope I didn't diasppoint you guys with this chapter. Tried not to make it too cheesy, haha. Sorry if it's a bit short, you gotta remember that it IS the same day as the last two chapters. Not that much can happen, really. Just wanted to separate the chapters so it wouldn't be too much info.**

**Now all of their feelings are out in the open! Well...not everything. How do you think Draco's gonna handle keeping his secret from her? More action in the next chapter, I promise. ;) But for now, leave a review and make me happy? Comments, concrit and suggestions are appreciated. :)**


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